Ezekwesili announced dramatic and late entry in presidential race promising to wrest Nigeria from PDP and APC

FORMER education minister Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili has made a late and dramatic entrance into Nigeria's presidential race declaring that she will stand yesterday as part of a movement to build an army of patriots.

Although she is yet to declare on which party platform she will stand, Dr Obiageli said she aims to bring down the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which she described as the two dominant parties that have failed Nigeria. Later today, she is expected to name the party on whose platform she will stand.

According to Dr Ezekwesili, it is way past time for Nigerians to unify and mobilise nationwide to rescue the country from mediocrity and enthrone excellence as the guiding standard. In a powerful statement announcing her candidacy, Dr Ezekwesili said: “The pain of seeing us become a country where the worth of life is trending down to zero, sadness that we are now known as the world poverty capital with 87m extremely poor Nigerians and anguish at the increase in the number of out-of-school children constitute a driving force for seeking the office of the president.

“Trust in public officials completely waned, angst knowing that only 10% out of three to four million young people entering the employment market every year will likely find jobs and concern about the future of Nigeria as a strong indivisible nation are the issues that have also compelled me. I have fully persuaded myself to lead a people’s movement that will permanently terminate bad leadership, ethnic and religious divisions, mediocrity, and failures in governance. We, the people of Nigeria, shall run together and win.

"Our political class continues with self-absorbed attitude of seeing power as an end in itself, thereby producing no material improvement in the lives of citizens. This compelled a change of direction for me.

“It is time to make citizens’ wellbeing the core focus of political leadership, it is time to reclaim our values that have become distorted and reduced Nigeria and Nigerians to ridicule by the rest of the world. It is time for leaders to offer exemplary and sacrificial service that will mobilise our people to build a cohesive, stable, and prosperous society in which every Nigerian has a stake.

“I want to run for and win the 2019 presidential election to serve and put the citizens first by mobilising and taking decisive actions on a number of big ideas that will help all of us build an exceptional nation that our future generation will be proud to call their own.”