Ezekwesili says nation can’t progress with high rate of poverty

Promises equal representation of gender in cabinet
The presidential candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has said that it will be impossible for the country to progress without addressing the issue of poverty.

Ezekwesili, in a statement yesterday, said Nigerians had been trapped in poverty that they could not afford quality education for their wards.

According to her, it is time to vote out corrupt and incompetence politicians to build a prosperous, stable and harmonious nation where everyone would have equal opportunity to do well.

The ACPN presidential candidate, who hinted that her emergence as the president in 2019 would bring an end to the era of corruption and eradicate poverty in the country, said: “I detest the bad leadership by old order political class while the country totters. I am therefore ready to mobilise my fellow citizens to #Fight4Naija. Nigeria needs all of us to fight for her rescue from the grips of those who are planning to be re-elected or elected again so that they can fail even more and watch more citizens join the already 87 million extremely poor Nigerians.

“The 2019 election is our opportunity to say ‘No’ with finality. It is truly now over for those who cannot offer any innovative ideas for the development of our country.”

In another development, Ezekwesili has lamented the increasing violence against women, describing it as alarming and worrisome.In a statement yesterday, she bemoaned that instead of the government of the day to work on eradicating violence against women, it is busy passing the bulk.

According to her, the situation of women is so bad that they have become preys in the hands of terrorists and negotiating tools of the Federal Government, adding that violence against women has worsened in Nigeria to the extent that it now starts from childhood.She, therefore, cautioned women against being deceived by candidates who had failed them in the past, and assured them of equal representation in her cabinet if she emerged as president.