It has not been that long when Rochas Okorocha, Imo state Governor, categorically declared that “come 2019, I’m contesting for nothing”.

He has now changed his mind and will be seeking to take the Owerri West Senatorial Zone’s seat at the National Assembly, according to the Sun’s reports on Tuesday.

“I have decided to run for the Imo West Senatorial zone because if I don’t, bad people will take the position. If my name appears on the ballot paper as contesting for the Senate, it will boost APC’s chances in the state.”

Mr Okorocha has been Imo state Governor since 2011 after succeeding Ikedi Ohakim on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), after which he switched to the APC before the 2015 General elections even if he had previously stated he would not do so.

The Governor has developed a reputation of showmanship and sleight-of-handedness but Okorocha’s reason for now deciding to run for the Senate is one that should puzzle the constituents he aspires to represent if their sensibilities have not already been debilitated by Mr Okorocha’s antics over the past seven years.

The idea that “bad people” would take the seat if he does not run is Mr Okorocha’s way of saying to the people of Owerri West that they are incapable of deciding for themselves what would be good for them. In that sense, the Governor will be doing them a favour by, as it were, going against his earlier wishes of staying on the sidelines by presenting himself as the only good man to be sent to Abuja.

While setting himself up for the Senate, Mr Okorocha is propositioning the people of Imo state to accept Uche Nwosu, his chief of staff and son-in-law, as their next Governor even when the Mr Nwosu has not declared an intention to run. So determined is the Governor to arrange the furniture at the Owerri Government House to his taste before his mandatory departure in 15 months time that he has all but instructed his deputy Governor, Eze Madumere, to discard any gubernatorial ambition and follow him to the Senate instead.

Mr Okorocha cites his “wealth of experience” as another reason why it would be unfair on Nigerians if he did not run for the Senate, even if he also admits that he will only be at the Senate to bid his time till President Muhammadu Buhari wins and completes a second tenure by 2023.

It remains to be seen how those he hopes to represents evaluates his “experience” on the basis of achievements of his two tenures which includes the non-payment of many months of salaries and pensions, renaming of streets, muscling of the state’s House of Assembly, and the erection of tall Christmas trees and expensive statues for foreign leaders, including Jacob Zuma, the now resigned South African leader embarrassed by corruption charges.

A poll of reactions from most Nigerians on the Governor’s actions in his state over the years will likely produce an advisory to his constituents on giving Nigeria their best candidate for the National Assembly come 2019. It can only be hoped that they will choose someone whose motivation isn’t primarily to mark time and block “bad people”.