Governor Rochas Okorocha, the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors' Forum has announced his decision to back down from the 2019 presidential race.
Gov. Okorocha and Buhari
While answering questions from journalists during an inspection of some key projects of his administration, Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, who is the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors’ Forum has announced his decision to back down from the 2019 presidential race, adding that once President Buhari indicates interest in the race, he would not feature in it.
According to Okorocha, President Buhari had shown good leadership examples and should be encouraged by all Nigerians. He stressed that his long-time desire for the country’s presidency has been to provide the needed leadership and emphasised that Buhari has shown that he is a courageous visionary and the people’s leader, maintaining that the best bet for him at the moment is to encourage him to continue beyond 2019.
"Yes, I have been running for the presidency of this great nation until God said I should settle for the Imo governorship. And that passion to become the President of this country is not just borne out of the thirst for the position, but had arisen out of the eagerness to offer the nation and her people a strong leadership; the essence would be to build a nation of our collective dreams and aspirations.
"President Buhari came in almost one year ago and within the period, Nigeria has once again got the doors of the rest of the world opened to her. He has shown courage, confidence, maturity and strong leadership. There is now a high feeling of leadership in the country," the governor said.
"What the President therefore needs in the circumstance is to be supported and encouraged to continue the good work even after 2019. For that rea-son, I have decided to keep my presidential ambition aside. It is also believed that others with such ambition would also want President Buhari to be given the required sup-port to continue the good job, to a very large extent," he added
Governor Okorocha also urged the media personnel in the project tour to appreciate what President Buhari is doing for the nation at the moment by backing his policies and programmes in the overall interest of the nation, noting that the President has so far shown quality leadership.
"God loves this country, and had also shown such love by making it possible for Buhari to emerge as President, because if the PDP had been allowed to continue in power beyond 2015, the nation and her people would have been in for it by now," Okorocha said.