A former Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has given reasons why the presidential candidate of the Labour Party for the 2023 elections in Nigeria, Peter Obi, towers above others.
The ex-World Bank Vice President for Africa spoke on Friday on a Channels Television programme: “Hard Facts.”
Ezekwesili told her interviewer: “To the specific issue of a presidential candidacy, what I said and which I repeat everywhere that I am asked is that I look at the other two candidates and I rate them immediately on the basis of what we know, and for the three candidates there is publicly available information with which to do the rating.
“So after I have done my rating, there is absolutely no way I would leave a Peter Obi and vote for any of the other two candidates.”
The former World Bank Vice President for Africa Region noted that an analytical perspective of what is likely to happen in 2023 suggests that a strong appetite for change is coming from the youthful segment of the population, which makes up to 60 per cent of the voting population, and many of whom are leaning towards Obi’s presidency.
She also said that women, who make up about 51 per cent of the voting population, are more inclined towards the presidency of Obi.
She said the former two-term Anambra State Governor’s prospect cannot be dismissed taking into the perspective various zones of the country and the appetite they have for an inclusive approach to governance.
Ezekwesili pointed out the improved activeness of the electorate as one of the things that will excite people who have gotten into politics to effect change, adding that today’s electorate is not disengaged as they were in 2019 and before.
She noted that young people especially women are much more conscious as they are now tired of the failure of the government because the groundswell of interest today wasn’t there as of 2019.
Obi and the candidates of the All Progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic Party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, are regarded as the three leading candidates for the 2023 elections in Nigeria.