Clergymen and leaders of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Abia State chapter, have advised the state governor, Alex Otti, not to quit politics after completing his second term in office in 2031.

Otti had, on several occasions, made public his intention to withdraw from active politics after his tenure as governor.

PUNCH Online reports that Otti, in December 2025, restated his long-standing position that he will retire from active politics after completing his tenure as governor, insisting that he has no presidential, vice-presidential, or senatorial ambition thereafter.

The clerics gave the advice through the immediate past state chairman of the PFN, Archbishop Chikezie Elekwa, who led the group on a courtesy visit to the governor at his office on Tuesday.

Elekwa said they had heard of the governor’s plan to leave politics after his tenure and urged him to allow the people to decide his political future.

“Some time ago, we heard you say that after your second term, you would quit politics. Please, Your Excellency, do not make that decision alone.

“Let the public, let the people decide. You cannot present yourself before us for only eight years and then disappear. Please, let it go public and allow the people to decide what happens next,” Elekwa said.

He added that the governor need not worry about campaigning for the 2027 elections, as the PFN had begun mobilising support across the state.

“Come next year, Your Excellency, you do not need any campaign anywhere. The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria is already mobilising our people from the grassroots.

“This body has members across the state in every local government and ward, and we assure you of the votes of the PFN,” he said.

Elekwa also pledged the full support of the church to the administration, insisting that Abia would not “return to darkness.”

“Every support you need, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria will provide. As the past executive steps aside, the new one will carry on. This light that God has introduced through you will keep shining brighter by the day,” he declared.

He informed the governor that the new state chairman, Dr Newlife Ugochukwu, was indisposed and therefore unable to attend, but assured him of the continued backing of the fellowship.

Responding, Otti thanked the leadership of the PFN for their prayers, support and encouragement, acknowledging the role the Christian body played in his political journey.

“It is important to put it on record that the PFN supported this movement from the beginning — in 2015, in 2019, and again in 2023. The Church stood firm, together with other fathers of faith. We do not take that for granted,” the governor said.

He reiterated that the core mission of his administration was to restore the dignity of the people and rewrite Abia’s story, stressing that governance is a collective effort.

“No one can do it alone,” he said, crediting members of his team for the transformation being witnessed across the state.

The governor also reflected on the need for people of faith to participate actively in governance.

“For a long time, politics was seen as something meant for a certain kind of people. Many who believed in God stayed away, and the state was handed over to those who either did not believe or only pretended to believe. This is the time to hand the state back to God,” Otti added.

While acknowledging the advice for him to remain active in politics beyond his current tenure, he maintained that leadership decisions must align with divine direction.

“As humans, we may have our own thoughts about when to step aside. But ultimately, we cannot speak when the Lord has not spoken,” he said.

Those present at the meeting included the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Pastor Caleb Ajagba; the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, Pastor Eno Jerry Eze; the Senior Special Assistant on Religious Matters, Apostle Kenneth Wiper; and the Director-General of the Strategic Communication Bureau, Onyebuchi Ememanka, among other top government officials.

Former Special Adviser on Political Matters to President Bola Tinubu, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has said former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai should focus on clearing his name over corruption allegations, describing him as “a very difficult person to advise”.

Baba-Ahmed spoke on Tuesday on Political Paradigm, a current affairs programme on Channels Television, amid an escalating public dispute between El-Rufai and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.

“If I were to advise El-Rufai, there are so few fronts that you’d fight, so try and limit the damage, focus your attention on getting yourself cleaned up on allegations that you stole money from the people…,” Baba-Ahmed said. He added that, by temperament, “Mallam El-Rufai by character is a very difficult person to advise…”

He argued that the various allegations and counter-allegations surrounding the former governor should not be dismissed as political drama but tested in court.

“I’d say that the simpler way to go about this is put all these allegations on the table. They are legal issues, from the allegations of corruption against Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to the allegations that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu… to the allegation of imported, poisoned chemicals.

“All these weighty issues must be brought at the disposal of the judicial process, and we must know what the truths or otherwise of these allegations are; we cannot sweep them on the grounds that this is politics, it’s not good enough,” he said.

The rift intensified after El-Rufai accused Ribadu of ordering his “abduction” at the Abuja airport, claiming that associates had tapped Ribadu’s phone and heard instructions to security operatives to detain him.

El-Rufai also alleged that the NSA was influencing investigations by anti-corruption agencies and the Kaduna State House of Assembly for political reasons linked to an alleged 2031 presidential ambition. He further raised concerns over the reported procurement of thallium sulphate by the Office of the National Security Adviser and called for public clarification.

Ribadu has denied all the claims, insisting that the alleged ambition was baseless and that agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission operate independently.

Reacting to the deterioration of their relationship, Baba-Ahmed said the dispute reflected a deeper problem in Nigeria’s political culture.

“I am extremely saddened by the development. I know both gentlemen and how deep their personal relationship was, and I see one of the poisonous elements of our politics.

“If you can actually poison a relationship with this nature this deeply, then we are in very serious trouble… it is very saddening to see this relationship just simply degenerate to a point that their personal relationship is now so poisoned that nobody thinks about the consequences… we are dealing with a situation of two friends threatening to take legal action against each other,” he said.

Both men were influential figures during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a period in which they built a close professional and personal relationship that later continued through El-Rufai’s tenure as Kaduna governor.