LLaraba MUREY
Former Imo State Governor and Senator representing Imo West district, Rochas Okorocha, has challenged his contemporaries bidding for the office of the President in 2023 to present their track records
Okorocha,while announcing his intention to join the race on becoming the next the president of Nigeria, at a press conference on Monday in Abuja, said his opponents should present what they have done in reuniting Nigeria, noting he has his imprints across the six-geopolitical zones of the country.
He said “I challenge those who contested with me to show what they have done in uniting the country”
Under the moto “The New Nigeria ” the lawmaker pledged to address issues that affect Nigeria’s unity, poverty, food insecurity, bad governance, lack of economic stability and poor business environment.
He stated that Nigerians need a leader who can unite the country, a leader with a compassionate heart, who will care for the poor and downtrodden and a visionary leader who can create wealth. He stated that he made millionaires while he was the governor of Imo state.
“The Nigeria of 2023 requires me as president. Because I am going to approach governance in a different way. Buhari loves the unity of this country but there are drums of separation and drums of war.
“…Poverty is the cause of chaos and calls for separation. Buhari has done well but he would not wish that he becomes the best, I want to beat his record,” Okorocha said.
According to him, “I hear people talking about zoning, I’m not a candidate of zoning, I am a candidate of justice. Maybe the South-East has not been able to present their matter very well before the rest of Nigerians.
“I appeal to my party, APC, to allow a level-playing ground. And the South-East must know that power is not given, it is taken. You must reach out to people who you want to vote for you. But let justice reign.”
“It will be wrong for anybody to say that Buhari is corrupt. It will be wrong to say he hates Nigeria. I have said it before; the issue is poverty. For every N1 billion problem Nigeria has, they have only 10,000 to solve it.
The senator also said police brutality in Nigeria is simply Nigerian youth brutalising fellow youth, because “the policeman accused of brutality is also a young person and his actions are borne out of frustration.”
To this end, he said the youth would be the bedrock of the country’s economy and they would be self-employed.
Okorocha is hoping to clinch the All of Congress, APC ticket as this declaration will be his fourth attempt at becoming Nigeria’s President as he joins other aspirants who have declared their intention to run for president on the platform of different political parties.
Among them are the National Leader of the APC and former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu; former presidential aspirant, former CBN Deputy Governor, Kingsley Moghalu; publisher of Ovation magazine, Dele Momodu; Ebonyi State governor, David Umahi; former Senate President, Pius Anyim, Sam Ohuabunwa and Khadijat Okunnu-Lamidi.
