Abia State Governor Alex Otti has disagreed with the position of Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, regarding the planned nationwide protest against rising cost of living and economic hardship.

During a courtesy visit to Otti’s country home, Obi had backed the protest, stating that it is the constitutional right of citizens to demonstrate and attributing the agitation to hunger and hopelessness.
However, Governor Otti, the only Labour Party governor, countered Obi’s stance, emphasizing that protesting without police approval is illegal. He argued that the current bad governance being complained about has its roots in previous administrations and cautioned against the potential implications of restricting movement and inflicting further hardship through street protests.

Otti acknowledged the difficult economic situation but stressed the importance of solving the problem through means other than unauthorized demonstrations. “First of all, for you to organise a protest, the law requires that you get approval from security forces, particularly the police. Somebody should take responsibility for getting that approval,” he said.

The governor advised the people of Abia State to refrain from joining the planned protests, suggesting that such actions may be more detrimental than the issues they seek to address. “For people in Abia, my advice is that people should not pour out on the street, because it may be more hurtful than the reason for the protest people are calling for,” Otti stated.