Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha last week said he would
support the gubernatorial ambition of his Chief of Staff and
son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, next year. In this interview with a select
group of journalists, Nwosu spoke on the development, including the
need for President Muhammadu Buhari to continue in 2019.
Excerpts
QUS: You are one of those ‘campaigning’ for President
Muhammadu Buhari to re-contest in 2019. But some prominent
Nigerians, including former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and
Ibrahim Babangida, advised him not to run again; what is your
take?
Uche Nwosu: I think that most often most people
tend to forget that one’s destiny is not in another’s hand. Your
destiny depends on what God says you will be. President Muhammadu
Buhari is qualified, very much ready and eager to continue to be
the president of Nigeria in 2019. So, I don’t see the reason
somebody will make a remark and it will be binding on the person
the remark was made about; I don’t see any reason President Buhari
should not contest election in 2019. As I had said in previous
interviews, there is no president in the history of Nigeria that
has fought corruption to bring back the image and integrity of the
country.
Most people might say that they are not seeing physically what
the president is doing; these people should know that it took the
PDP 16 years to destroy this nation and to repair it, only four
years will not be enough for President Buhari to do so. The
president has begun the process of putting things in order, but it
will take him some time. It is like when you bring a bag of rice
and pour a cup of sand into it; it will take you time to sieve the
rice from the sand.
So, for those of us who are ardent supporters of President
Buhari, we don’t see any reason he should not contest the 2019
election. For me, I will support President Buhari and my governor,
Owelle Rochas Okorocha equally believes in him. President Buhari at
this time in the country is the man we need to strengthen this
platform so that the man that will be coming after him in 2023 as
president will stand on this solid foundation and this country will
continue to move forward.
Buhari is eminently qualified to run again and his destiny is in
the hand of God, not in the hands of any man. He is still the best
that the country and our great party, APC needs in 2019. The
president should run again and we will support him.
QUS: Do you think that with economic decline Nigerians
will still come out to support Buhari and the APC like they did in
2015?
Nwosu: You see, when someone makes a remark and
you generalise it to mean the whole of Nigeria, I don’t think it’s
right. When you say hunger, who brought us to this point? Who
brought hunger to Nigeria, was it President Buhari? No, it was the
PDP. I don’t know if you have forgotten that a single individual in
this country was caught with billions of naira, dollars and pounds;
was it President Buhari that took these monies outside the country,
was it President Buhari that hid these monies inside his house? No;
these are the people that destroyed this country before President
Buhari came in.
Today, many things are changing for the better. For instance, we
were not producing rice before, but today, we are producing rice in
so many states of the federation. The other time people were crying
about recession, do we still have recession? No, recession is over.
So, it will take some little time for President Buhari to stabilise
this country. So, I have no fears that this country will be better
again because it took 15 years for the party called PDP to destroy
it, which Buhari is working tirelessly to fix back.
So, I can bet you that President Buhari will again win
convincingly in the 2019 presidential election. You can see this
from some of the places he has visited recently in the North and
the mammoth crowd that came out to receive him. So, Buhari is not
somebody you can just make a remark in the newspaper or over the
radio or the TV and think that is the way to go. No, Nigerian
politics has changed; the people want somebody who will remember
that they are there and not somebody who will just be busy on the
radio and TV blowing only grammar.
When you look at President Buhari, you will see that Buharism is
running in him; so, it takes a man of integrity like the president
for people to believe in him. He has high integrity because he is
not corrupt, so let us wait till 2019, but I can tell you straight
away that President Buhari is winning in a landslide in 2019, there
is no doubt about that.
QUS: As the governor’s tenure is gradually coming to an
end, we have seen many groups coming out to endorse you as his
successor, what is your next political destination in the state, is
it the governorship?
Nwosu: Many people have asked me this question and
I have seen a lot of endorsements coming from the APC; from the
youths, from women, from different groups. I want to appreciate and
thank each of them for indicating their interests and urging me to
come out to run for the 2019 governorship election in Imo State. I
want to believe that this is coming from their hearts and because
of the love they have for me. 2019 is fast approaching, but for
now, we have a governor. By 2019, I will know where God will take
me to, but for now, His Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha is still
our governor and I have also told him that within a short period of
time, I will come out and make my intention known to everybody.
Meanwhile, I have to give it to the youths of Imo State, left for
them they would have opened my mouth and made the declaration on my
behalf. But I want to assure them that I will not disappoint or let
them down. At the right time and very soon, I will make it known to
everybody; it is not something to fear or worry about, where we are
going to God has already destined it and I don’t think that any man
can change it. What God has made nobody can unmake it, so 2019 will
be 2019.
QUS: Do you think that your party, APC stands a chance
in winning Imo again in 2019?
Nwosu: When you look at what His Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha
has done since 2011 he came in as governor of the state, you don’t
need to ask this question; even the blind can touch the state to
know that Owelle Rochas Okorocha has done very well for his party
to be returned at ease. The issue of winning an election is not
what you write on billboards and papers, it is what you see on the
ground and Owelle Rochas Okorocha has done excellently well that
whoever that comes to challenge him in any governorship election in
Imo will have a very serious battle. We have all it takes to win
again in Imo State as a party. And it is going to be easier for us
when compared to the 2011 and 2015 general elections because many
in the state have now seen that this man has delivered on his
promise; from his free education to rural roads and other
infrastructural development. The Imo people have seen that Owelle
Rochas Okorocha has delivered and what people want to see is that
this man has performed and if this man has performed, it is
believed that whatever that is coming from him will follow suit.
So, we don’t have any fear for 2019, it is going to be a normal
election and APC in Imo will win the elections with wide margin and
in a landslide.
QUS: Last Monday, Governor Okorocha came out to say that
he will endorse you if you come out, why are you still wasting
time?
Nwosu: First of all, I want to appreciate His
Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha who in his intelligence thought
deeply of who will run and who will not run, that is his opinion.
This is a man who has run the state for seven years now, who has
changed the landscape, changed the old mentality, changed the old
Imo we used to see to a modern Imo. So, when he comes out to say
this is the person that will go, I think I don’t have an objection
to that; however, at the right time I will formally make it known
to the people, but if he has given me his approval, who am I not to
take up the challenge? But at the right time, I will make my
decision known to my people, but for now, it is between the
governor and I.
Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha last week said he would
support the gubernatorial ambition of his Chief of Staff and
son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, next year. In this interview with a select
group of journalists, Nwosu spoke on the development, including the
need for President Muhammadu Buhari to continue in 2019.
Excerpts
QUS: You are one of those ‘campaigning’ for President
Muhammadu Buhari to re-contest in 2019. But some prominent
Nigerians, including former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and
Ibrahim Babangida, advised him not to run again; what is your
take?
Uche Nwosu: I think that most often most people
tend to forget that one’s destiny is not in another’s hand. Your
destiny depends on what God says you will be. President Muhammadu
Buhari is qualified, very much ready and eager to continue to be
the president of Nigeria in 2019. So, I don’t see the reason
somebody will make a remark and it will be binding on the person
the remark was made about; I don’t see any reason President Buhari
should not contest election in 2019. As I had said in previous
interviews, there is no president in the history of Nigeria that
has fought corruption to bring back the image and integrity of the
country.
Most people might say that they are not seeing physically what
the president is doing; these people should know that it took the
PDP 16 years to destroy this nation and to repair it, only four
years will not be enough for President Buhari to do so. The
president has begun the process of putting things in order, but it
will take him some time. It is like when you bring a bag of rice
and pour a cup of sand into it; it will take you time to sieve the
rice from the sand.
So, for those of us who are ardent supporters of President
Buhari, we don’t see any reason he should not contest the 2019
election. For me, I will support President Buhari and my governor,
Owelle Rochas Okorocha equally believes in him. President Buhari at
this time in the country is the man we need to strengthen this
platform so that the man that will be coming after him in 2023 as
president will stand on this solid foundation and this country will
continue to move forward.
Buhari is eminently qualified to run again and his destiny is in
the hand of God, not in the hands of any man. He is still the best
that the country and our great party, APC needs in 2019. The
president should run again and we will support him.
QUS: Do you think that with economic decline Nigerians
will still come out to support Buhari and the APC like they did in
2015?
Nwosu: You see, when someone makes a remark and
you generalise it to mean the whole of Nigeria, I don’t think it’s
right. When you say hunger, who brought us to this point? Who
brought hunger to Nigeria, was it President Buhari? No, it was the
PDP. I don’t know if you have forgotten that a single individual in
this country was caught with billions of naira, dollars and pounds;
was it President Buhari that took these monies outside the country,
was it President Buhari that hid these monies inside his house? No;
these are the people that destroyed this country before President
Buhari came in.
Today, many things are changing for the better. For instance, we
were not producing rice before, but today, we are producing rice in
so many states of the federation. The other time people were crying
about recession, do we still have recession? No, recession is over.
So, it will take some little time for President Buhari to stabilise
this country. So, I have no fears that this country will be better
again because it took 15 years for the party called PDP to destroy
it, which Buhari is working tirelessly to fix back.
So, I can bet you that President Buhari will again win
convincingly in the 2019 presidential election. You can see this
from some of the places he has visited recently in the North and
the mammoth crowd that came out to receive him. So, Buhari is not
somebody you can just make a remark in the newspaper or over the
radio or the TV and think that is the way to go. No, Nigerian
politics has changed; the people want somebody who will remember
that they are there and not somebody who will just be busy on the
radio and TV blowing only grammar.
When you look at President Buhari, you will see that Buharism is
running in him; so, it takes a man of integrity like the president
for people to believe in him. He has high integrity because he is
not corrupt, so let us wait till 2019, but I can tell you straight
away that President Buhari is winning in a landslide in 2019, there
is no doubt about that.
QUS: As the governor’s tenure is gradually coming to an
end, we have seen many groups coming out to endorse you as his
successor, what is your next political destination in the state, is
it the governorship?
Nwosu: Many people have asked me this question and
I have seen a lot of endorsements coming from the APC; from the
youths, from women, from different groups. I want to appreciate and
thank each of them for indicating their interests and urging me to
come out to run for the 2019 governorship election in Imo State. I
want to believe that this is coming from their hearts and because
of the love they have for me. 2019 is fast approaching, but for
now, we have a governor. By 2019, I will know where God will take
me to, but for now, His Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha is still
our governor and I have also told him that within a short period of
time, I will come out and make my intention known to everybody.
Meanwhile, I have to give it to the youths of Imo State, left for
them they would have opened my mouth and made the declaration on my
behalf. But I want to assure them that I will not disappoint or let
them down. At the right time and very soon, I will make it known to
everybody; it is not something to fear or worry about, where we are
going to God has already destined it and I don’t think that any man
can change it. What God has made nobody can unmake it, so 2019 will
be 2019.
QUS: Do you think that your party, APC stands a chance
in winning Imo again in 2019?
Nwosu: When you look at what His Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha
has done since 2011 he came in as governor of the state, you don’t
need to ask this question; even the blind can touch the state to
know that Owelle Rochas Okorocha has done very well for his party
to be returned at ease. The issue of winning an election is not
what you write on billboards and papers, it is what you see on the
ground and Owelle Rochas Okorocha has done excellently well that
whoever that comes to challenge him in any governorship election in
Imo will have a very serious battle. We have all it takes to win
again in Imo State as a party. And it is going to be easier for us
when compared to the 2011 and 2015 general elections because many
in the state have now seen that this man has delivered on his
promise; from his free education to rural roads and other
infrastructural development. The Imo people have seen that Owelle
Rochas Okorocha has delivered and what people want to see is that
this man has performed and if this man has performed, it is
believed that whatever that is coming from him will follow suit.
So, we don’t have any fear for 2019, it is going to be a normal
election and APC in Imo will win the elections with wide margin and
in a landslide.
QUS: Last Monday, Governor Okorocha came out to say that
he will endorse you if you come out, why are you still wasting
time?
Nwosu: First of all, I want to appreciate His
Excellency Owelle Rochas Okorocha who in his intelligence thought
deeply of who will run and who will not run, that is his opinion.
This is a man who has run the state for seven years now, who has
changed the landscape, changed the old mentality, changed the old
Imo we used to see to a modern Imo. So, when he comes out to say
this is the person that will go, I think I don’t have an objection
to that; however, at the right time I will formally make it known
to the people, but if he has given me his approval, who am I not to
take up the challenge? But at the right time, I will make my
decision known to my people, but for now, it is between the
governor and I.
Read more https://nairalaw.com/why-my-father-in-law-endorsed-me-to-run-for-imo-governorship/