Former Imo State governor and All Progressives Congress presidential aspirant, Rochas Okorocha, has boasted that he would defeat the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar if given his party’s ticket.
According to him, the APC needed a candidate that could poll substantial votes in the North to win the 2023 presidential election.
The lawmaker said that he remained the only aspirant with a nationwide acceptance.
Speaking while appearing on a political program on Arise Television, Okorocha said his popularity and goodwill in the northern part of the country, considered the PDP candidate’s stronghold puts him at advantage over other APC aspirants.
He said, “The APC has smartly waited until the PDP produced its candidate, now what should preoccupy the mind of the APC is who can defeat the PDP presidential candidate.
“The PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is someone that had contested election with our President and was an APC member and he polled substantial votes, what APC needs is the man that can poll similar votes in the North to be able to defeat him, anything outside this that goes with sentiment will mean failure for us.
“This is what we should know, who is that person among the APC aspirants that can get sufficient votes in the North because that PDP’s only strategy is the Northern votes. We might not have President Buhari on the ballot because most people that won elections on the platform of the APC in previous elections did so because of President Buhari. Now such privilege is no more there, so you have to look for that man that people will look at and vote for and I am that man.
“I am more acceptable in the North than any of the aspirants. I am the darling of the North. I have a cordial relationship with the North. In the North, I saw their children that were not going to school and I provided free education for them. Some people believe that if I am elected President that power is still in the North because of my close relationship with the North. ”
He stressed that he will defeat Atiku in his home state, Adamawa, saying he has impacted lives in the state of the PDP’s candidate.
Okorocha said, “If I run for election, in Adamawa State today, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar will sweat to defeat me because I can show what I did in Adamawa State. I challenge everyone to show what they have done in other parts of the country outside their region.”.
Copyright PUNCH.
