Onyedika Agbedo and Agatha Emeadi
Former minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has warned Nigerians against voting for candidates of either the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 presidential election.
Ezekwesili, who disclosed this at a World Press Conference in Lagos, yesterday, maintained that there is no difference between the APC and PDP. She added that re-electing APC’s President Muhammadu Buhari, for another term, or the presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is akin to leaving the country in the hands of the same people who wrecked it.
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Ezekwesili, who is running for president on the platform of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), said the cycle of leadership failure in the country is unsustainable and has to end in 2019.
“In 2015, the mantra was anyone but Jonathan. Now, what we are hearing is anyone but Buhari and the PDP nominated Atiku because they think he is the only one that can defeat Buhari. So, in 2023 when Atiku and the PDP inevitably fail, again, because a bad tree cannot bear good fruit, then what?
“We will start hearing a new chant anyone but Atiku. That is how we get looped into 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.
“The 2019 election will not be anyone but Buhari. Our country is not a recycling plant for uninspiring old men with old ideas. 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 end bad leadership, retire incompetence and fight for every Nigerian.
“For those of you considering 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. They are the siamese twins of failure.”
Ezekwesili, who spoke extempore for about two hours added: “Fellow Nigerians, here is the truth of the matter.
“The APC and PDP are not two parties. APC, PDP is a single party fielding one single candidate and that candidate’s name is BUHTIKU. Buhari and Atiku are cojoined from head to toe as BUHTIKU.
“There is no lesser evil in BUHTIKU. They are members of the same party. Attempting to choose between these two is like asking one to choose between death and gunshot.
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“We cannot reject one oppressor and handover to another oppressor. We do not love bondage in this country; we do not enjoy suffering in this country. God and Heaven forbid.”
Ezekwesili insisted she is seriously in the presidential race and stressed that electing her as president will end the cycle of failed leadership in the country.
“Nigerians deserve a president that they know would do what she says she would do. Do we not think we deserve a president that will not negotiate her integrity?
“Do you not think we deserve a president who will not give you stories or have any hidden agenda, but just a president who will be working everyday for you and your children.
“Are we not tired of managing poverty, death and destruction? The world is watching to see what kind of country we will choose to become now that the kind of candidate, with wide-ranging national and international experience that we have been asking for has finally joined the race.
How sad it will be if we choose to re-elect incompetence, stagnation and mediocrity? How equally sad it will be if we choose to elect an individual who jumps from one party to another every election season and has corruption file in the United States Department of State.
“I am running to lead and serve Nigerians. I am running to disrupt the old order of politics in this country. I will run and win this election with Nigerians. We are in this race because now is the time ,” the former Steel minister affirmed.