Governor Rochas Okorocha promises Buhari will step down for an Igbo successor in 2019

IMO State governor Rochas Okorocha has revealed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate General Muhammadu Buhari will only serve for a term and step down in 2019 for an Igbo successor.

Speaking yesterday while addressing the Imo State Towns Development Association Lagos, Governor Okorocha likened General Buhari to the late Nelson Mandela of South Africa. He added that for an Igbo president to emerge, the people must vote for the general to give him the mandate, so that he can later hand over power to the south east in 2019.

At the event, which took place at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, Governor Okorocha said that at 72, General Buhari’s mission is to clear the rot in the polity and move on. Speaking in Igbo, Governor Okorocha said that if the southeast geo-political zone wanted to produce the president in the immediate future, they must elect General Buhari.

Governor Okorocha added: “Buhari is the Mandela of our time. At 72, what does he want?

"He will do one term, fix the country and move on and then power will be come back to the south. When power rotates to the south, the southeast will have it in 2019 because the southwest has had it through Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the south-south through Dr Goodluck Jonathan.’’

However, the governor warned that the realty of southeast producing a president might not be realised if they did not get their politics right by voting for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). According to Governor Okorocha, the PDP has marginalised the southeast geo-political zone.

"Under President Jonathan's administration, the southeast is not among the five topmost positions in the country as it has not produced the president, vice president, senate president, chief justice of the federation, or speaker of the House of Representatives and does not have any of the service chiefs, inspector general of police, or controller of Customs, immigration, or Civil Defence. We only have the controller of prisons, which is not fair," Governor Okorocha added.