It has been an interesting one week since I made the tough but necessary decision to suspend my campaign for the presidency. I have been truly overwhelmed by the reactions to my announcement from Nigerians.
Even in airports outside the country as I travelled last week, Nigerians walked up to me with questions, concerns, encouragement, and motivation. I also saw disappointment by some who had poured their hearts and hopes into actualising our mission to #Fight4Naija, bring back hope to our land and lift 80 million fellow citizens out of extreme poverty. I ask for the forgiveness and understanding of all who are hurt by my withdrawal from the race even as I take comfort in the fact that they would agree with my choosing to stand with my values rather than compromise.
I am thankful to all who travelled on this journey with me, who attended our campaign events, who volunteered for the movement, who spread the word and sometimes argued with friends and colleagues, who contributed and invested online and offline. Thank you to the young people who accepted and owned our campaign, to the women – my sisters and comrades – who worked and walked with me, to every believer and supporter from different tribes, states, religions and walks of life. You all are champions. Your sacrifices continue to humble and inspire me and I will never ever forget.
Debunking the lies and falsehoods
I am sure you’ve all heard some insinuations and allegations since my announcement of withdrawal from the presidential race. My motives have been questioned with various versions of falsehoods being spread. I want you all fellow Nigerians to know that those allegations are alien to my character and pedigree. The lies were cooked up by the perpetrators themselves in a deliberate hostile attack of my stance against bad politics and governance.
Let me reiterate that the #CitizensFirst campaign I ran was a serious one to which I was wholeheartedly committed. Millions of our citizens who followed our campaign on multiple platforms across the country can attest that we ran a promising campaign uniquely designed to be disruptive. We adopted a decentralized messaging strategy for maximum reach and impact. Our campaign was also appreciated by citizens for being empowering of the voters in contrast to the traditional campaigns that rob the largely poor electorate of their dignity.
I have never been one to go into a new venture without first measuring the odds, counting the cost or taking stock. My candidacy was no different. Even though I was the latest to throw my hat in the ring, the campaign was not slack because we believed in the power of Nigerians to take their destiny in their own hands. It was a testament to our hard work in such a short time that whenever top candidates in the race were mentioned, my candidacy was always highlighted after those of the two-in-one dominant parties which make up the old political class in the country. We took our hopeful message to 15 (?) states and created a unique retail driven campaign that resonated with Nigerians.
One of the more laughable moments of the past week was hearing allegations that my presidential candidacy was a scheme to negotiate for a ministerial role. This is the height of political comedy, I must say. Here are the facts that speak for themselves. Since I resigned as a cabinet minister in 2007, it is known that I have declined offers by different governments to serve as a minister again. Why would I then go through the pains of launching a presidential campaign to negotiate for a role I last occupied twelve years ago and have thrice rejected since after? Such mud-raking tactics is the reason why our best minds abstain from offering themselves up for political office thus leaving the worst of us to lead the rest. It won’t and can never stop me. It must not stop anyone of you who have watched the saga of the last week seeking to blemish me. It is in fact precisely why we must double down on disrupting this decadent “old order politics as usual” in Nigeria.
More hilarious was the accusation that I raised and looted campaign donations. It is only morally bankrupt politics that can make anyone even imagine such accusation against me. I am not saying that I am above public scrutiny – no one is, but surely reasonable persons can see through the baselessness of these allegations. My absolute dedication to public accountability is widely known and no matter how much we had hoped to raise as campaign support from the public we designed an accounting system to go beyond the basic minimum of accountability required by the Electoral Act. For example, the accounting function and system was separate from my candidacy. It was independently managed for the campaign as you saw from the presentation just made by my Campaign Council. You could see the transparent details on what I contributed as a candidate, what we received as support from our fellow citizens and spent in the course of the campaign.
What is appalling is the dull, deliberate, diversionary attempt by the leadership of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) to slander me. As an official of government of Nigeria, I took a 90 per cent salary cut in order to serve this great country. I left government with my integrity intact and my name untainted. In all my years in the public, private, or development sector, there has never been any allegation of corruption against me. Not one. I have stayed true and consistent to my values – in private and public. If I remained incorruptible in government, would it not be senseless and cruel for me to suddenly be the kind of person that would divert funds and donations received from well-meaning Nigerians who believed enough in our vision for the country’s future to contribute financially to my campaign? Some of our supporters gave us as little as N500 and etched themselves for eternal gratitude in my heart. Do not believe those vicious lies. Your support was part of why our campaign forced issues-based discussions in the presidential contest. Please be proud of what you helped us accomplish.
So, who is Oby Ezekwesili?
One of the things I am most proud of is the fact that I have dedicated most of my adult life for the good of our country and fellow citizens.
In the early 90s as a young professional working inthe private sector, I was already globally reputed as a co-founder and one of the pioneer global directors of the anti-corruption body, Transparency International in Berlin Germany. Around that same period, I joined forces with other pro-democracy activists to fight against military rule and advocate for return to democracy through restoration of the stolen mandate of MKO Abiola at home and later abroad at the TI in Berlin before setting out for the United States. I returned to Nigeria at the end of 2000 to pioneer the reform of the broken Nigeria public contracting system by initiating and executing the Due Process unit and led the team that prepared the Bill that institutionalized it as the Bureau for Public Procurement Act. In that role, I was the lead architect of the design and implementation of the law and institution of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative- NEITI.
My track record as former Minister of Solid Minerals who pushed the reform that led to completion of our first ever postcolonial total airborne geophysical survey and armed us with data on the classes and locations of minerals across the country; and as a reforming former Minister of Education, are there for all to see. As a former Vice President of the World Bank, several African President and heads of government averred that I helped them reshape their mindset and understanding toward economic development of their countries by leading a team that provided the right partnership, knowledge and finance to support sound visions. I served as the Senior Economic Advisor of the Open Society Foundation, directly supporting a number of Presidents and their cabinets in identifying and designing the soundest policies for inclusive growth in their countries. Two of such Presidents are female and both of them publicly endorsed my presidential bid.
As an active citizen, I marched on the streets of Abuja with other concerned Nigerians to awaken our government and the rest of the world to the sad tragedy of abduction of the 219 secondary school girls of Chibok, Borno State and the terrorist overrunning of the North East of Nigeria. I embarked on a solo-March to protest the barbaric killings of our fellow citizens in the Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba, Kaduna, Enugu, Ebonyi and other parts of the country. I have never failed to confront any irresponsible actions of leadership and poor governance regardless of who the victim or their oppressors are including when I was in government. My mantra has always been that we who have had the privilege of education must use and raise our voice on behalf of those who are weak and vulnerable. In whatever context I am known in our country my joy is that none of it was for ill against Nigeria and Nigerians. Some among our citizens who attacked me – and still do – for advocating for ChibokGirls and Dapchi Girls – especially Leah Sharibu who was left behind when the rest were retrieved by the Federal Government, have failed to realize how important the biblical injunction in Psalms 82:3-4 is for me in all my efforts to advance Good Governance. “Defend the poor and fatherless,” the scripture says. “Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.” Good Governance matters most for the poor and needy amongst us. Those of us who have had the privilege of being lifted out of poverty surely must know this. It is the reason I am ever zealous to be on the side of demand for Good Governance. It is the reason one has never stopped dreaming of a New Nigeria that gives the poor and needy the opportunity that has eluded them to experience positive economic and social mobility.
