#2million Cheque to revive a 10 year moribund FG TV station in Abia;Otti scored an own goal

By Ikechukwu Iroha

Abians woke up to another lie yesterday when Dr.Alex Otti was praised for his robust intervention towards resuscitating the NTA Umuahia Station that has been moribund for over 5 years.

According to a release by Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma who is a media aide to Dr. Otti, the Moribund NTA Umuahia is set to bounce back as Alex Otti comes to the rescue. He went further to say that the dwindling fortunes and sad stories of Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) Channel 21 Umuahia will soon become a thing of the past following a robust intervention by Otti.

It was a harvest of encomiums from APGA loyalists and unsuspecting Abians who probed into the circumstances that led to the abandonment of the project by the Federal Government only for the defeated 2015 APGA candidate to come to the rescue.

Well meaning Abians who were gearing up to thank Dr.Otti for his kindness, enquired about the extent of the intervention since the amount given by Alex was missing in the report.

A further probe, showed that after conducting Dr.Otti round the premises, he handed over a cheque of two million Naira ( #2 million) to the management of the Television Station led by Dr.Njoku.

While everyone agrees that such magnanimity should be applauded, it should therefore not generate a release that created impression that the problem of the TV station revolves around #2 million or that Otti is bankrolling the entire resuscitation of the FG TV station. From what was written, Otti has made it difficult for other Abians and the FG Government to step in, since it was said that his robust intervention has turned the Station around for good. Note that State government don’t fund resuscitation of federal agencies. NTA is a federal agency and the federal govt should run and maintain it.

While enquiring further, Mr Ferdinand told Abians that the Station Manager Dr.Njoku said to Otti that the station needed about #2 million to bounce back after about 10 years of being out of service of which the Federal Government failed to make provision for.

Unfortunately for Mr Ferdinand,  It was difficult to cover the lie when Abians asked him why the amount he described as a 'robust intervention' was omitted in his report if he was being honest with Abians.

Further probe revealed that such has been the stock in trade of Alex Otti, who recently settled a #400k bill for patients at Federal Medical Centre,Umuahia as part of his birthday celebration in Abia State but went ahead to make a press statement that all patient's debts were paid by Otti even as the amount was missing in action.