At a recent event marking the groundbreaking of the Abia International Airport, Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, shared his views on the political journey of Gov Alex Otti. Keyamo suggested that Otti, who currently belongs to the Labour Party (LP), will soon return to the All Progressives Congress (APC), describing it as a case of a “prodigal son” returning home.

Otti’s political journey has seen him shift parties. He was a member of the APC in 2020 before leaving the party and joining the Labour Party. He went on to contest and win the 2023 governorship election in Abia State under the Labour Party’s banner. Despite his recent success, Keyamo believes that Otti will eventually find his way back to the ruling APC.

During his speech, Keyamo also discussed the impressive upgrade of the Abia airport. Initially planned to be an airstrip, it is now set to be transformed into an international airport, highlighting significant progress in infrastructure development in the region.

“The President’s motivation was also the fact that he loves the governor of this state, he loves his spirit. I know the comments he has made about the governor of this state and how much people here love him so much.

“Today is not the day for politics, he strayed away, he was with us, he strayed away like the prodigal son.” He said

Speaking further Keyamo explained how it was upgraded to an international airport rather than the initially planned airstrip.

“When I called Dr Alex Otti and I broke the news to him, he said no, I will partner with you, I will also put in counterpart funding, let us upgrade it to an international airport. This was what happened. As minister of aviation, I’m just telling you the trajectory.”