Mr Adams Oshiomhole, a former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has joined the 2023 presidential race on the party’s platform.
Oshiomhole, also a former Edo governor said this when he addressed a group of supporters and well wishers at Cyprian Ekwensi Centre for Arts and Culture, Abuja on Wednesday.
“I am not here to lament all the imperfections, I have come to have a conversation as to what I believe we need to do differently to reposition Nigeria on the path of sustainable growth and development,” he said.
Oshiomhole promised to strive hard towards ending the perennial Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike in addition to repositioning the country for sustainable growth and development.
He decried the prolonged ASUU strike, saying it was a source of concern for both students and their parents.
“I want to declare that I will do everything possible to engage not just ASUU, but all education stakeholders to ensure that the academic calendar is maintained.
“I stand here for one purpose, to formally declare that I Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, hereby declare with confidence my desire to contest for the office of the president of Nigeria on the platform of a party that we co-founded, APC.
“The task before us is not for us to continue to lament the imperfections in our country.
“The task before us is to find the courage and stand up and be counted in our determination to reposition our country to be the giant of our continent so that it can provide prosperity for all Nigerians,” he said.
Oshiomhole added: “Sometimes we spend so much time dealing with the consequences of what is wrong, rather than tracing the root cause of those consequences.
“While we currently talk about insecurity, unemployment, poverty, access to electricity supply, solutions to address such issues should be the focus.
“What to do differently is to ensure that we stopp lamenting and start engaging and organising to restore hope should be discussed.”
Oshiomhole promised to give attention to the nation’s economy by fixing it and restoring hope to Nigerians, adding that he would ensure a new tax regime where the rich would pay more tax.
He said that poverty, insecurity and unemployment were inter-related.
“One does not have to be a professor to know what poverty is,” Oshiomhole said.