I’m Not Running for Senate, President in 2019, Says Okorocha

By Amby Uneze in Owerri

For the first time since he assumed position as the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha yesterday denied running a family government as claimed by majority of Imo citizens, insisting that those behind that claim really missed the point.

Okorocha also reiterated that he would neither run for Senate nor for the President in 2019, but would be keen in who succeeds him and who could sustain the tempo of the achievements recorded by his administration, thereby resisting the pressure from some quarters to run for Senate since he had at different fora, said he won’t run for the Office of President in 2019 because of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Okorocha claimed that more than 4,000 children had gone to University through Rochas Foundation and while 15,000 others were also in the various colleges of the Foundation and when some of them graduates, they chose to be with him and he adopts them. He added that if any of such children becomes anything under him, they would say he or she is a member of Rochas Family and he does not deny that since his ambition in life is to see people grow through him.

He spoke when members of the Rochas Mandate Movement in their numbers held solidarity rally for him in Owerri, stating that those who never offered the people of the state leadership when they held sway but only shared the people’s resources would never come back to power in the state.

According to him,  Uche Nwosu who is from Nkwerre Local Government Area and Prince Eze Madumere, from Mbaitoli LGA were all counted today as members of my family because they have grown to prominence but when they took those steps of faith no one counted them as members of my family, adding I have done the state and her people proud with my monumental achievements.

His words, “The people I see here are people who are committed. People that are following me not because of what they could gain from me, but because of what we have done for the world. As it stands, come 2019, I’m contesting for nothing. But in my heart, I have searched out and resolved that one man has good thoughts about Nigeria in his heart. Secondly, the possibility of leadership will easily get to the Igbos after him. That man is President Muhammadu Buhari”.

“My coming as a leader in Imo State was by your efforts. No big political bigwig supported me and in my stride, I have brought sitting Heads of states of other countries to Imo State,”  he said.

In her speech, the Coordinator of the group and Supervisory Commissioner for the Ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment, Mrs. Ogechi Ololo said the Movement would be poised to ensure that someone with the passion to develop the state like the governor would govern the state in 2019, adding that Imo People would not afford to listen to cock and bull stories with Free Education, Urban Renewal and so on.