Umuahia — Abia State Governor Alex Otti has distanced himself from claims by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma that all five Southeast governors have agreed to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
Otti pushed back during his monthly media briefing in Umuahia on Thursday, July 23, 2026, asserting that Uzodimma could speak only for himself and not on behalf of the region’s other governors.
“I acknowledge that Governor Uzodimma has the right to express his views, but that does not extend to speaking for all of us,” Otti said.
The disagreement arose after Uzodimma, during a meeting with Imo elders and traditional rulers in Owerri on Wednesday, described Tinubu as showing “unprecedented commitment” to the Southeast through his Renewed Hope Agenda and presented support for the president’s second term as a collective position of the five governors.
While Otti commended certain federal government policies particularly the removal of the petrol subsidy, which he had previously called courageous, he made it clear that the Labour Party would field its own presidential candidate in 2027 and would not take positions on behalf of other parties.
The Southeast’s political diversity complicates any notion of a unified front. Three of the governors, Hope Uzodimma (Imo), Peter Mbah (Enugu), and Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi) belong to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Otti serves under the Labour Party banner, while Anambra Governor Chukwuma Soludo was re-elected on the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) platform.
Analysts say Otti’s firm rebuttal signals that any endorsement of Tinubu cannot be treated as a regional consensus without the explicit backing of each governor.
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