Former Malawi President, Joyce Banda, has endorsed the presidential
candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Dr. Oby
Ezekwesili.
Banda testified that Ezekwesili “possesses the ability to fight
corruption,” adding that Nigeria needed a leader like her.
Banda, who was the President of Malawi from April 7, 2012 to May 31,
2014, said Ezekwesili’s advice saved her from corruption allegations.
She said that Ezekwesili’s international exposure, transparent and
accountable skills would help the growth of Nigeria.
Endorsing the ACPN candidate on Wednesday, the ex-president said, “While
fighting corruption during my presidency in 2013, Oby Ezekwesili advised
me to protect myself with a forensic audit, which United Kingdom
government supported.
I am forever grateful for this transparent,
accountable daughter of Africa; a servant leader pushing #Nigeria
#Hope2019.”
On her part, Ezekwesili assured Nigerians that she would put effective
structures in place to fight corruption.
She said that defeating corruption in Nigeria would ease job creation
and boost the economy.
The female presidential candidate also assured the citizens that her
tenure as president would end the attitude of using political positions
for personal gains.
She said: “Needless to say, every other area in our comprehensive
manifesto, including our anti-corruption, sports, foreign policy,
security agenda, and every other programme of our platform, will be
evaluated on three questions: How much wealth is it going to generate?
How many jobs is it going to create? And how many people it will get out
of poverty?
“We will measure our economic success as a government, not by the number
of private jets parked at our airports, but by the number of Nigerians
we lift out of poverty who go on to live richer lives. We mean business.
“We will put in place a massive programme of deregulation of the
Nigerian economy to unleash the depth of competition and efficiencies
necessary for higher and deeper economic growth and expansion of the
economy. The division and rebalancing of roles between business and
government will reduce opportunities of corruption and bottlenecks that
limit the competitiveness of the Nigerian economy.”
While accusing previous governments of paying lip services to the fight
against corruption and accountability, she stated that her promises
would be fulfilled.
She said: “When I make these promises, I do them with the realisation
that you are tired of broken promises. The broken promises of previous
administrations are still fresh in your memories and it has tainted the
way you look at politics. That is why as a principle, our campaign will
only promise what we can deliver, and will deliver what we promise.
“Our politics is the promise of a new, honest start to rebuild and renew
our country. Our direction is clear; and our destination is also clear.
When we deliver, we would rebuild the crucial bonds of trust between the
people and their government without which a democracy cannot flourish.
“This election is the most important of our lifetime. I believe that the
next four years could determine the next 40. If we fail to get it right,
what would we tell our children? What manner of consequences would
befall us? What would another four years of wrong leadership mean for
you and I? More poverty. More divisions. More corruption. More debt.
More insecurity. More disregard for human rights. More and more of the
same.”