US preacher tells Otti to be model of good governance

An American independent charismatic prophetess, speaker, author, and co-founder of Generals International, Mrs Cindy Jacobs, has said that God has positioned the Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, to become a model in leadership and governance.

Jacobs made the declaration on Saturday during the National Thanksgiving Worship Service at The Father’s House Church, Jahi, Abuja, as Otti honoured the invitation of the organisers of the programme.

The preacher, who is visiting Nigeria 23 years after her last visit alongside her husband, Mike Jacobs, said she saw massive road construction projects spreading across the state, connecting villages and enabling farmers to move their produce easily to markets. She also revealed that she saw God supplying the finances needed to execute the projects.

She said, “God is going to begin to give you finances for infrastructure. I see literal supernatural finances that will enable farmers to market their produce.

I see roads being built from the villages to places where they need to sell their produce. I don’t know anything about where you are, but I just see that God wants you to be a model.”

She further declared that Otti would introduce transformative policies that would make Abia one of the most educated states in the region, lifting many citizens out of poverty through education.

“God wants you to be a prototype of what can be done in the region when God is exalted.

And the Lord also showed me that you’re going to be able to put some policies in place that will begin to make your state known as one of the most educated. I see you building schools and strengthening teacher education in particular.

“And so, God is going to help you raise people out of poverty, and education will take them out of poverty. God is going to do this,” she said.

Responding, Otti told the gospel minister that since assuming office, his administration has consistently allocated 35 per cent of the state’s annual budget to education and healthcare, with education receiving 20 per cent and health 15 per cent.

He noted that the prophetess was “speaking in the spirit,” and disclosed that his administration had recruited and onboarded 5,394 teachers in the first phase of its recruitment exercise, with plans to employ an additional 4,000 teachers.

The governor also said that before the end of the month, three new smart schools built by his administration would be commissioned.

“And before the end of this month, we are commissioning three brand-new smart schools we built,” Otti added.

Addressing the congregation, Otti stressed the need for Christians, especially leaders, to live according to their teachings, noting that leadership is an opportunity to serve. He emphasised that people are more interested in what leaders do than what they say.

The governor maintained that while fasting and prayers are important, righteousness exalts a nation, stressing that wrongdoing undermines prayers.

Online reports that the National Thanksgiving Worship Service, currently ongoing at The Father’s House, is an interdenominational gathering organised to offer intercessory prayers for Nigeria, particularly for an end to killings and bloodshed in parts of the country caused by terrorists and bandits. The programme also seeks divine healing for the nation and its progress.

The event attracted several religious leaders from different parts of the world, with Jacobs serving as the lead guest preacher.

Nigeria’s former Minister of Education, economic policy expert and activist, Oby Ezekwesili, and her husband, Pastor Chinedu Ezekwesili, who were among the organisers of the programme, described Governor Otti as a shining light in governance in Nigeria.