The presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, similarly kicked off her presidential campaign, saying she remained “the best man for the job.”
Ezekwesili who is a former minister of education, released official photographs for the campaign.
A terse statement by Aisha Yesufu, the Director of Special Projects for ‘Hope 2019’, the campaign organ of Ezekwesili, entitled, ‘Here comes the best MAN for the job, the woMAN,’ expressed optimism that by her track records, she would fight for Nigerians and the masses.
Yesufu said, “The Obiageli ‘Oby’ Ezekwesili For President organisation – Hope 2019, has issued official campaign photos as it kicked off the INEC-approved campaign season.
“Hope 2019 campaign kicked-off officially on Sunday with a thanksgiving service in Abuja, after which the candidate will go to her home state, Anambra, to officially get blessings from the royal father and other elders of her community.
“We are excited and we can’t wait. The best MAN for the job in 2019 is definitely a woMAN and this woman we know by her track record, will #Fight4Naija.”
Ezekwesili has promised to “lift over 80 million people out of poverty”, if voted into office in the 2019 general elections.
She has therefore challenged her rivals to “bring up their doable programmes to better the lots of citizens.”
According to her campaign organisation, watchers of the forthcoming general election in Nigeria have expressed the view that Ezekwesili remained the most prominent woman to run for the office of President in Nigeria’s history.
While describing her pledge of lifting over 80 million Nigerians out of poverty through human capital development and technological innovation as unprecedented, the organisation said her plan to lift majority of Nigerians out of extreme poverty stood out as the most actionable strategy in the lead up to next year’s general elections in the country.
Ezekwesili’s dream came on the heels of a recent pronouncement by the founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, that the world could overcome extreme poverty as demonstrated by countries including China, India, Mexico, South Africa.
Ezekwesili said, “Beyond the rhetoric of this election season, it is clear to us that getting people out of debilitating poverty is the single most crucial assignment that we have. That is why we adopt this as the cornerstone of the #Oby4President campaign.”
While lamenting that most aspirants to public office in the country were seeking political power for its sake, the campaign organisation said, “This position is premised on Oby Ezekwesili’s informed belief that only a prosperous people can take the nation into the future we all dream of.”
She contended that since research had indicated that over 40 per cent of cases of extreme poverty could be found in sub-Saharan Africa, she promised by year 2050, “to turn around these tragic projections, we need to drastically change how we do things as a country. We cannot continue to vote in the incompetent leaders who put us into this poverty while expecting change to happen.”
“It’s time to put in motion another wave of poverty reduction – which has slumped by over 1.2 billion people globally since 1990 – and we are more than ready to make this happen,” she stated.