Ezekwesili says she rejected request to be Buhari’s running mate in 2011

Ezekwesili says she rejected request to be Buhari’s running mate in 2011

- Oby Ezekwesili has confessed that she declined President Muhammadu Buhari's request to be his VP in 2011

- The former education minister made this disclosure on Twitter, confirming the claim previously made by Pastor Tunde Bakare

- Ezekwesili, a former solid minerals minister, said she did not hesitate to reject the offer from the president

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Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister, has confirmed Pastor Tunde Bakare's claim that she was contacted to be President Muhammadu Buhari's running mate in 2011.

Bakare, a founder and pastor of Citadel Global Community Church, had revealed that the former education minister, alongside the current vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, was contacted by the president.

Other prominent people Bakare mentioned were Jimi Agbaje, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and former Lagos governorship candidate, and the current minister of trade and industry, Niyi Adebayo.

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Ezekwesili says she rejected to be Buhari’s running mate in 2011
Former minister Oby Ezekwesili says she rejected the request to be President Buhari’s running mate in 2011. Photo Credit: Daily Post
Source: UGC

Responding to Bakare's claim when asked during a Twitter question and answer session, the chartered accountant-turned politician, who also served as the minister of solid minerals, said she was contacted by the president.

Ezekwesili, however, said she "did not waste a moment in saying No."

"I laughed at the many messages people sent me upon reading Tunde Bakare ‘s factual statement that I rejected running as VP with Muhammadu Buhari in 2011.
"I did not waste a moment in saying No. It is why I have always pitied those who spend their years lying against me."

Ezekwesili, who describes herself as a fiercely passionate believer in the public good of nations, is the former campaigner of the #BringBackOurGrils, an advocacy group pressing demand for the release of over 200 Chibok schools girls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists in April 2014.

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Meanwhile, the Nigerian presidency has described a spurious lie flying in the face of fact the insinuation that President Muhammadu Buhari hates Igbo and "doesn’t believe in women’s capacity".

In a Twitter rant on Tuesday, November 17, Bashir Ahmad, an aide to the president on new media, stated that contrary to what has been mischievously posited about the president, he never abhorred Igbo, and those who were spreading the lies have now changed the narratives.

Ahmad explained as far back as 2011 when President Buhari threw the hat into the ring in his former party Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), he wanted an Igbo person as his vice president.

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Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Rahaman Abiola avatar

Rahaman Abiola (Editor-in-Chief) Rahaman Abiola is an award-winning journalist and Editor-in-Chief with over 8-year experience. He holds a degree in English & Literature from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria (2015). He's a recipient of the Mile Media Award, Kwame Karikari Fellowship. His works have appeared in Punch, The Nation, Tribune, The Cable, Sahara Reporters and others. rahaman.abiola@corp.legit.ng