Okorocha: I’m in Presidential Race to Address Fiscal Crisis

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

A former Imo State Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha has disclosed that he is contesting presidential primaries on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) to resolve Nigeria’s deepening fiscal crisis.

Okorocha, currently representing Imo West in the Senate, observed that if Nigeria “does not create additional avenues for wealth, the current government would be venerated as one of the best that ever ruled Nigeria.”

He made the disclosure at the weekend after the New Nigeria Team presented him the N100 million APC presidential expression of interest and nomination forms in his Unity House office in Abuja at the weekend.

During the presentation, Okorocha maintained that he “remains the right candidate to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari,” promising that his government would be pro-people.

Insisting that Nigeria’s biggest challenge “remains the inability to create wealth, Okorocha promised that he would initiate diverse policies and programmes that would the country’s fiscal and economic crises.

In other words, Okorocha said: “We do not have a normal nation. We have an abnormal nation associated with so many challenges. So, a normal and ideal person is what is required to champion the affairs of this country.

“I want to make it clear to all of us that now Nigeria requires a builder, not a manager, Nigeria requires someone who can create wealth for this nation because summarily speaking, our problem is lack of resources, adequate resources to champion the cause of the nation,” he argued.

The former governor pledged to engage the youths, saying although past and present leaders did mean well for Nigeria, they had not been able to raise the level of the country’s wealth. He pledged to fix the economy and increase Nigeria’s revenue sources.

Okorocha argued that Nigeria’s problem “lies in the fact that very meagre resources are sustaining a large population, tracing the insecurity and restiveness in the country to the level of poverty in the nation.

“If any of the aspirants has any plan to create wealth for Nigeria, I will not bother himself about running. I am the only one who has the vision to create this wealth.”

He said he was a self-made man “before joining politics. In the next four years, if Nigeria does not create additional avenues for wealth, the current government would be venerated as one of the best that ever ruled Nigeria.”

He noted that Nigeria “is currently beset by what he described as abnormal problems,” pledging to take the youths off the streets. He said Nigeria’s huge population could not continue to depend on the meagre resources currently available.

He said: “What has brought me into this whole arrangement is my passion and vision for a new Nigeria and to change the ugly narratives associated with our nation.

“All of you are aware that we have different aspirants, different people vying for the office of the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 “The question is, who will be the right president? And who will be the right person to do this job? I can only speak for myself because I understand that I know the challenges we’re all going through as a nation.

“Today, definitely, we are going through unusual and abnormal situations in our nation. We do not have a perfect nation yet. Today, nations have called us the poverty capital of the world.

“Today, Nigeria’s name is associated with terrorism, unemployment, youth restiveness, lack of power, lack of energy, and what have you,” he explained during the presentation of the nomination form in Abuja.

He described himself as the right person to take over from Buhari, promising to catalyse the growth of education in Nigeria beyond “speaking grammar”.

“We shall introduce a task force system in wealth creation because we believe that every state in Nigeria has something to offer,” he maintained, adding that states do not need to go to Abuja to be handed cheques at the end of every month.

“I have a compassionate heart and I do understand what Nigerians are going through. Not everyone understands what they’re going through because I have passed through them,” he noted.

Stressing that he was born in Igbo land, grew up in the north and made his wealth in the South, he stated that the sole problem with Nigeria is that the population heavily outweighs the resources to take care of them, saying that he remains the cord that can unite this country.

Okorocha also promised “to deal with the issue of out-of-school children in the country. As a lawyer, I understand how the judiciary works. As a former governor, I have a full grasp of the executive. As a lawmaker, I understand the legislature.”

 “I do not have a 20-point agenda, I do not have a 50-point agenda. I have only one agenda and my agenda is to create wealth for this nation.”