Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has said if Chief Uche Nwosu contests the 2019 governorship election in the state, he would support him on the grounds that he has the qualities of an ideal leader.

Nwosu is the current Chief of Staff to the Government House and an ardent apostle of the Rescue Mission Government in the state.

Governor Okorocha spoke when officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and leaders from Owerri Municipal Council visited him yesterday to urge him to encourage and support Nwosu for the governorship of the state in 2019. He said the monumental achievements of the governor could not be left in the hands of ‘any-how person’.

The governor stated that although the Chief of Staff had not told him he wants to run for the governorship of the state, if he comes out, he would support him. He said he had known Nwosu over the years, but did not know his parents and described him as an honest man, who, ‘whatever he tells you in the morning is what he will tell you in the evening’.

“Uche Nwosu is hardworking and never gets tired. He is a humble young man. He is not proud or arrogant. So, power won’t get into his head. In spite of the position he occupies, you can’t see him quarreling with anybody or maltreating anybody. He does not segregate against anybody, whether from Orlu, Owerri or Okigwe zone. He relates with people enviously. I have checked him in and out and I’ve not found him wanting.

“What the state wants is a governor and not Owerri, Orlu or Okigwe zone governor. Zoning does not put food on the table of anybody. The young man is a team player, who does not molest anybody with his office. He has the qualities of a good leader. If he says he will run for governor, I will support him.

“Obviously, it might be as a result of these qualities that most people are talking about Nwosu for governor everywhere, even when he has not declared for the governorship. It might also be the reason for the endorsements he is getting from all quarters. You see, you don’t hide a good product. And the joy of every leader is to have a worthy successor. You don’t mind political opportunists. We have done very well as a government and we should be concerned about what happens to the achievements after.

“I am not from Owerri zone, but my administration has done more projects in Owerri zone and Owerri municipal in particular, than past administrations before me. We need Imo governor and not a zonal governor. I have done in Okigwe zone what the man from the zone could not do for them. The records are there.”

The governor also called on Igbo not to repeat the mistake of 2015, stressing that Igbo must massively vote for APC and President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019. He said Igbo need the North for political survival.