Obiageli Ezekwesili, former Education Minister, has stated why Nigerians should elect her as President in the 2019 general election.
Mrs Ezekwesili, the candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), said it was time Nigerians stopped recycling old and outdated leaders in the country.
She was instrumental to the start of the viral #BringBackOurGirls campaign on social media, which trended internationally.
Addressing a world press conference on Monday with the theme: “For Those Who Say We Cannot Win,” the former minister warned Nigerians against re-electing President Muhammadu Buhari.
The text of her address was reproduced through her twitter handle.
She said the president has now shown neither the capacity nor the aptitude for the highest office in the land.
She also advised Nigerians not to elect the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, as attempting to choose between the duo is like asking one to choose between death by poison or death by gunshot.
“Do you remember? The chant all across the country was ‘Anyone But Jonathan’. Sadly, that is how we ended up with this reprobate government,” Ezekwesili recalled.
“This time it is: ‘Anyone But Buhari’. And by that they mean that we should reinstate the failed PDP and its candidate, former vice president Atiku Abubakar because they think Atiku is the only person that can defeat Buhari in 2019.
“And in 2023, when Atiku and the PDP inevitably fail again, because a bad tree cannot bear good fruit, we will hear new chants of ‘Anyone But Atiku’.
“2019 cannot be ‘Anyone But Buhari’. Our country is not a recycling plant for uninspiring old men with their old ideas and old dubious characters. We deserve better than their aggressive mediocrity.
“And that is why I am running for president – to lead a people’s movement that will permanently terminate bad leadership, retire these incompetents and fight for every Nigerian.
“For those of you considering the PDP as an alternative, I really want to ask you: what is the thing that you see about them that is any different from the APC. Really? These people are the same: Siamese Twins of Failure.
“We cannot reject one oppressor and hand over to another oppressor. We do not love bondage. We do not enjoy suffering.
“These people are brothers and sisters of iniquity and impoverishment, merchants of failure and dissapointment.
“Six and a half years after, I had fought the fight that had to be fought from within, and then I left government knowing for sure that if this political order is not changed, the work of good governance that we do within government will never last.
“I decided not to re-enter government, rebuffing every request made since, and instead made a decision to dedicate my life to activating citizens to push these blood-sucking political class out of office.
She highlighted was her government would look like if elected President saying they would be no time for blame game.
“My leadership will not be by trial and error, and I will not spend my time making excuses and blaming others.
“An Oby Ezekwesili presidency will not only work to create an enabling environment for our young people to explore their greatest potentials and be globally competitive, but they will actually power the government.
“Because I know that the poor mother whose children will sleep without food tonight does not care about excuses or blame games. The 4 million Nigerians who lost their jobs last year do not have time for excuses or blame games.
“Leah Sharibu and the several other young girls whose futures are being snatched by terrorists do not have time for excuses or blame games. The small business owner who spends half of his earnings on generating his own power does not have time for excuses or blame games.
“They want results, results, results. They want tried and tested leadership; a leadership that is data-driven, independent-minded and solutions-centred.
“You know my record. You know that when I say it, I do it. You know that when I promise it, I keep my word.
“Don’t you finally deserve a president you know can and will do what she says she will do – no stories, no hidden agenda, no dodgy friends; just working every day for you and our children?
“Are we not tired of managing poverty, and death, and destruction?
“How sad it will be if we choose to reelect incompetence, stagnation and mediocrity. How equally sad it will be if we elect a shady, unprincipled individual who hops from one party to another every election season and has a corruption file in the United States Department of State.
“Our agenda is about creating wealth – growing the pie exponentially, creating jobs, building shared prosperity and taking at least 80 million Nigerians out of poverty.
“The agenda is to mobilize the energies of the people and our private sector, invest in upgrading our capacity capabilities to compete globally, and end the bad policies which have turned Nigeria into Poverty Central.
“Importantly, our actions will center on mobilizing the youth, building and adopting science and technology to disrupt the status quo in every sector, implementing reforms and reorganization to reduce bureaucracy, and making government a partner instead of an enemy of progress,” Ezekwesili added.
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