Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has said Igbo history will be rewritten in 2019, when, according to him, the South East region would vote for President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in office, having realised it is the best politics they can play.
Read also: 2019: PDP, APC governors want Buhari to contest – Okorocha
Governor Okorocha said he is determined to ensure the Igbo do not repeat the political mistake of 2015 in 2019. He, however, regretted that Igbo leaders prefer to live in Abuja, leaving the younger politicians at home without someone to guide them, unlike their contemporaries in the North and West.
He spoke last weekend at a dinner for “Emerging leaders and aspirants in the South East for Buhari,” held at the Imo International Convention Centre (IICC), Owerri.
Governor Okorocha also denied having issues with any minister or leader from the South East region and said whatever he does in his politics, at the moment, is borne out of his genuine concern for the future of the Igbo nation; how the Igbo can take their rightful position and play their role in nation-building.
He said: “All our leaders are living in Abuja, including our former governors. There is no one to fall back on at home, unlike our contemporaries in the North and in the West.
“Muhammadu Buhari is the President, but, Shehu Shagari is in Sokoto, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami
“Abubakar are in Minna. Obasanjo is in Ota, Ogun State, and Bola Tinubu is in Lagos. They are goalkeepers and elder statesmen to their younger ones and giving support to their future generation.
“But, for us, our case is different. Our old politicians keep rocking back and front, usurping the political future of our younger generation. So, I’m of the firm belief that we should have a new and virile Igbo nation, so that the younger ones can begin to take their rightful positions. That’s what we mean by emerging leaders, it is not as if you are not leaders in your own rights,” he said.
Okorocha said the Igbo must change their style in politics.
“This is a period for us to have a rethink. I’ve seen the problem. It is possible that Igbo can get there, and because we are not together, it seems to be an uphill task. And there is no better time for Ndigbo to work with singleness of heart than now. We must destroy the fabrics of the Amalekites in Igboland.”
The governor equally stressed the need for Igbo leaders to engage Igbo in diaspora to bring them on the same page “because what most of them post on the social media do not help the Igbo nation in any way in answering the Igbo question in Nigeria.”
The governor charged all those who have ambition to contest for elective positions in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South East to start coming out and not withhold such ambition or aspiration for any reason, adding that APC won’t leave any stone unturned now in the South East.
“We have made advanced preparations for the mega rallies for Buhari to go round the Eastern states, beginning with Ebonyi State. We are poised to position our people for national politics. ‘South East for Buhari’ is on rescue mission and we shall be in Ebony, Abia, Enugu and Anambra. We have come to correct history. By 2019, the Igbo history will be re-written,” he said.