George Onyejiuwa, Owerri

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state has insisted that he would produce his successor in 2019.

He said his successor would come from amongst members of his ‘rescue mission’ who, he believed, would sustain the philosophy and legacies of his administration.

This was just as he reiterated that the issue of zoning the office of the governor is dead in the state.

Governor Okorocha said this while addressing stakeholders and leaders of the party from the 27 council areas of the state who paid him a New Year visit at his country home, in Ogboko, on Thurday.

He maintained that whoever would take over from him in 2019 would be member of the Rescue Mission Political family and not an outsider.

“The issue of who takes over the mantle of Governor of the state in 2019 must come from the Rescue Mission Political Family and not an outsider . This is because the person already know the driving philosophy and would sustain the legacies of this government.”

The Imo State governor further  stressed that the era of zoning political offices have gone for good, in the state, saying that the zoning of political offices in the past have not encouraged the much needed growth and development.

“As a politician, I can authoritatively tell you that any politician that gets into any political office based on zoning will be a clannish leader, because he or she will channel all his energy in doing things that will satisfy his own people but when a politician is elected  on popular demand devoid of zoning, he or she will see the entire state as his own and treat every zone equally in the scheme of things,” he noted.

He also pointed out that his Rescue Mission, in the last six  and half years, has  not done anything based on zone or where he comes from as all the developmental projects, including political appointments, have been distributed evenly across the state.

Okorocha, who stated that his greatest desire is  to see that all his political sons and daughters in  the Rescue Mission Administration, grow greater than him, politically, vowed to ensure that Imo State would not be made a political battle ground in 2019 by overzealous politicians who are desperate to be Governor at all cost.

The governor also maintained that his support and endorsement of the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari will make an Igbo president possible in 2023. He added that he was fully in charge as all the names from the state that made the recently released Federal Board members including the name of Sen. Osita Izunaso, was his own list.