Top Nigerian Female Candidate Pulls Out of Elections
Oby Ezekwesili, the leading female candidate in Nigeria’s upcoming presidential elections, has withdrawn her candidacy in favour of forming an opposition coalition to defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ezekwesili previously served as an education minister and as the vice-president of the World Bank. She is also the co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, which aims to raise awareness about the more than 200 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by the armed group, Boko Haram, in 2014.
On Thursday, 24 January, in a series of Twitter posts, the 55-year-old announced her decision to withdraw from the 16 February election polls and form a coalition.
She explained: “This coalition for a viable alternative has now more than ever before become an urgent mission for and on behalf of the citizenry.”
Ezekwesili added: “Over the past three months, I have been in private extended talks with other candidates to make a coalition possible that would allow Nigerians to exercise choice without feeling helplessly saddled with the #APCPDP.”
Only the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have won the country’s presidential elections since the restoration of democratic rule in 1999.
Image: Oby Ezekwesili. [online image] (2019) sourced on 25 January 2019 from: https://www.bellanaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Oby-Ezekwesili-1.jpg
