Other candidates who, analysts believe fall within her category are former Deputy Governor of Central Bank, Kingsley Moghalu, a professor of International Business and Policy, and former United Nations official who emerged the candidate of the Young Peoples’ Party, as well as former Governor of Cross Rivers State, Mr. Donald Duke, of the Social Democratic Party.
Though they are part of the 79 presidential candidates whose names have been published by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the election, Ezekwesili presented her “Roadmap to Victory in 2019 #Fight4Naija,” last week, where she said she is out to defeat the duo of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party.
She lamented that whereas the dawn of democracy in 1999 ushered in hope for Nigeria, no sooner had the administration taken off than “series of own goals crashed that hope down a slippery slope, and that beautiful Nigerian dream tragically became a nightmare.”
According to her, the citizens were so angry with the brand of failure posing as governance under the Peoples Democratic Party that they took a gamble as the 2015 elections presented to them by the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari, who then was a 71-year old former dictator “who has now shown neither the capacity nor the aptitude for the highest office in the land.”
To her, if that campaign in the build-up to the 2015 election between the PDP and the APC was a movie, its title would be: “The lesser of two evils.” Everything the APC candidate did, as against that of Goodluck Jonathan, was justified and excused because he was branded as “the lesser evil.”
Hence, she said, Buhari got an easy ride. “No serious questions were asked about his competence or track record or world view; he couldn’t even be bothered to attend a presidential debate to defend his ideas in a competitive environment. Yet he was promising Change and majority of Nigerian voters bought what he was selling.”
But today, Ezekwesili said, the APC has failed, and that as the 2019 elections approach, Nigerians are travelling the old path, seeing the PDP and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as the alternatives to the failed APC and its candidate, President Buhari. In her view, however, “they are one and the same- Siamese twins of failure and destruction.”
She followed up by telling Nigerians why her “candidacy under the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) represents the most prepared, most qualified and most formidable choice for 2019, and why you cannot afford to sit on the sidelines in this battle for the soul of Nigeria.”
Pre-2015 election
Ezekwesili warned that Nigerians should not repeat what she considers the mistake of the past by resolving, in the face of the current socio-political milieu that any candidate but Buhari would save Nigeria.
“Let us look back briefly, to 2015. Do you remember? The chant all across the country was ‘Anyone But Jonathan.’ Sadly, that is how we ended up with this … government.
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.’
“That is how we get looped in a cycle of insanity – repeating the same thing, and expecting a different result. That cycle of failure is unsustainable and it has to end now. 2019 cannot be ‘Anyone But Buhari.’
Our country is not a recycling plant for uninspiring old men with their old ideas and old … 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 considering the PDP as an alternative, Ezekwesili said such claim is nebulous, stating that there is no difference between the two prominent parties, peopled by politicians who have defected from one party to another in the last years. “These people are the same: Siamese twins of failure.
“Fellow Nigerians, here is the truth of the matter: the APCPDP is not two parties. The #APCPDP is one single party fielding one single candidate, and that candidate’s name is #BuTiku. Yes, you heard me right – #BuTiku.”
NewTelegraph
Corruption and cabal
Mentioning names and quoting reports, she lamented the level of corruption in the land, and explained how she fought the anti-corruption fight about a decade ago, and still fighting as a co-founder of Transparency International, with the notion that if this political order was not changed, the work of good governance that good people 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.
“I returned from the World Bank five years later to do just that, and the PDP was still at it- same incentives, same behavior. The political class was completely unchanged – and had in fact become completely worse,” wondering why Nigerians forget so easily.
Giving insight into her mission, Ezekwesili said “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. Building our young human capital will be an urgent priority of our ACPN government. We have an agenda to transform 20 Nigerian universities into world class institutions with strong showings on the global rankings.’
She scoffed at Nigeria’s continued dependence on oil when the world is counting down to the end of the oil economy, stressing the need to focus on the work of rebuilding of the economy
The agenda of her party, she said, “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 mobilise 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 including governance, implementing the reforms and reorganization to reduce bureaucracy, and making government a partner instead of an enemy of progress. This will in turn create jobs, turbo-charged businesses and fight inequality.”
She left no one in doubt about her targets audience and modus of reaching them. “I am going to discuss our agenda directly with the market women, plumbers, mechanics, Imams, deacons, truckdrivers, accountants, teachers, civil servants – and after that disruptive, bottom-up, grassroots-driven process, we will then unveil our practical vision document that is broken written into language that everybody can understand, so that you people will know that this thing is not as hard as these old men think it is.
“We are fighting for Lekki, as much as we are fighting for Kabong. We will fight for Asokoro with the same energy will fight for Ogwashi Ukwu; we will fight for Port Harcourt as hard as we will fight for Dutse. And by the way, enough is enough of those of you in the towns and urban centers speaking about the grassroots alone as if you are not part of Nigeria. You cannot leave the burden to rural voters alone. It is time for those of you in the urban centers to wake up and do your own part too. Stop sitting in your office arguing and whining. Enough! Stop it!
“The candidate said the out-of-school children need a champion to fight for them. Our brothers and sisters across the North and the South being slaughtered while our government watches need a champion to fight for them. Our small business owners whose businesses are not being funded with government loot need a champion to fight for them.
“Our army of unemployed young people, who are depressed and about to give up, need a champion to fight for them. Our patriotic fighting soldiers, who are laboring under difficult conditions to keep us safe, need a champion to fight for them.”
Keeping a positive spirit even as he banked on populist support, she said Nigerians should not anyone to deceive them with cynicism. “These people told us we were wasting our time fighting for June 12. Well, here we are today. They told me, when I was in government, stop wasting your time Oby, Due Process cannot work here jare. Well, you go ask the PDP goons what happened when the forces of darkness met Madam Due Process. They told me that not one single Chibok girl would be rescued. I ignored them, and we kept standing for our girls.
“We can recognize that this is the most consequential election of our lifetimes. We can band together and say, ‘Enough is now finally enough,’ that failure is no longer acceptable; that we are tired of ‘managing.’ That to accept this morass of failure is no longer an option. That we have all it takes as a country to compete and win amongst the comity of nations, and the only way to do that is to snatch 2019 from the hands of #BuTiku.”
To her, Nigeria does not need just one champion, not just about Oby Ezekwesili, but that the nation needs many champions in the bid to “disrupt the politics of this country forever! Undoubtedly, she is very clear about his mission, his blueprint and how to achieve them, and Nigerians wait with bathed eyelid when the campaign commences in December ahead of the presidential elections.
NewTelegraph
