Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha
Gibson Achonu, Owerri
Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has dissociated himself from campaign posters bearing his image alongside that of the Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shetttima, for the 2019 presidential election.

The governor, through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, described the said posters, which appeared on the Internet and in some parts of Abuja as “another mischief” by some elements to undermine the achievements of Okorocha.
Onwuemeodo said those behind the Okorocha/Shettima ticket started by uploading the posters on the Internet with the intention of destroying the cordial relationship between the governor and President Muhammadu Buhari.Okorocha said some people were uncomfortable with what he represented in the politics of the South-East and Nigeria at large.
A statement by the CPS read in part, “Soon after the 2015 general election, and knowing the leading role that Governor Okorocha played in the South-East that put the PDP field commanders on their toes, which prevented them from returning the kind of election figures they had returned in 2011 in the zone, they began their campaign of calumny against the Imo governor.
“Since then, they have never left any stone unturned to ensure that they put a knife in the relationship existing between the President and Governor Okorocha. Their latest unfortunate outing is the issue of the posters.
“Interestingly, Governor Okorocha has, for some time now, been reported to have told those willing to hear that he won’t run for the 2019 presidential election because of President Buhari. And by repeatedly saying that, he succeeded in disarming the little minds, who had used that issue too to blackmail him.
“And now, they have begun to print posters about Okorocha being the vice-presidential whatever to Governor Shettima. And for the sake of exposing these petty-minded fellows, one should ask whether if Rochas and Shettima want to run for election, they would begin in 2016 to post posters for the 2019 election when both of them are sitting governors?
“The truth is that the posters were neither here nor there. And nobody would believe them. We only ask God to give those behind the posters the right spirit. People with the right spirit cannot engage in such a debilitating act. Only the poor in spirit could do that. And they have our sympathy.”