Imo West Senator Rochas Okorocha has said he wants to run for president in the 2023 general election so he can lift Nigeria out of poverty and beat President Muhammadu Buhari’s record.
Okorocha said that while the president has done well for Nigeria and Nigerians, he intends to “beat his record” if elected president.
He said so at a news conference on Monday where he officially declared his ambition to run.
Okorocha formally declared his intention to run for president on the day the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged him with conspiring with others to steal N2.9 billion from public coffers.
The senator had informed the Senate last week of his intention to run under the All Progressive Congressional platform.
He had said that Nigerians need a detribalized leader who can unite the country, a leader with a compassionate heart, who cares for the poor and downtrodden, and a visionary leader who can create wealth for the abundant population, qualities he said he possesses.
At the conference, the legislator, who was also the governor of Imo state, pointed out that poverty is the main cause of complaints and chaos in the country.
This, he said, he will address on his New Nigeria agenda. This is even as he dismissed the view that the president and his administration are corrupt and deaf to the needs of the people.
“It will be wrong for someone to say that Buhari is corrupt. It will be wrong to say that he hates Nigeria. I have already said before; the issue is poverty. For every N1 billion problem Nigeria has, they only have 10,000 to solve it.
“The Nigeria of 2023 requires me as president. Because I’m 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 like to become the best, I want to beat his record,” said Mr. Okorocha.
The senator also said that police brutality in Nigeria is simply Nigerian youths mistreating other youths, because “the policeman accused of brutality is also a young person and his actions are out of frustration.”
To do this, he said that young people would be the basis of the country’s economy and that they would work on their own.
He also opposed the zoning of political offices in the APC and called on party leaders to allow a level playing field for candidates regardless of their region.
He said, “I hear people talk about zoning, I’m not a zoning candidate, I’m a justice candidate. Perhaps the Southeast has not been able to present its issue very well to the rest of Nigerians.
“I call on my party, APC, to allow a level playing field. And the Southeast must know that power is not given, it is taken. You must contact the people you want to vote for you. But let justice reign.”
Okorocha joins a few other hopefuls 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 ex-governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu; former presidential hopeful, former CBN Lt. Governor Kingsley Moghalu; Ovation magazine editor Dele Momodu; the governor of the state of Ebonyi, David Umahi; former Senate President Pius Anyim, Sam Ohuabunwa and Khadijat Okunnu-Lamidi.
EFCC’s arrest for political reasons
Just as the lawmaker was making his intention to run known, the anti-corruption agency, EFCC, filed 17 charges against him over allegations that he conspired with others, including an APC politician and five companies, to steal N2.9 billion from the public. chests
PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported that the defendants along with Mr. Okorocha include Anyim Nyerere Chinenye (a current commissioner in Abia State), Naphtali International Limited, Perfect Finish Multi Projects Limited, Consolid Projects Consulting Limited, Pramif International Limited and Legend World Concepts Limited.
Mr Okorocha described this as political propaganda and political motivation.
He also accused the EFCC of carrying out arrests without proper investigation or confirmation, adding that so many innocent citizens have been victimized due to the false reports they receive.
In an interview on Channels TV on Monday night, the lawmaker challenged the EFCC to prove that any of his property belongs to the Imo State Government, which the commission claimed he stole during his tenure as governor.
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“I say ten times over, I have nothing that was traced back to the Imo state government when I was in office.
“You remember one of my wife’s properties that was seized by the EFCC and the Imo state government and another property of the Rochas Foundation sealed… that’s just dirty politics and evil of humanity.
“…And those who say he was bankrupt are liars. That’s a made up point,” he said.