A TW Exclusive with Oby Ezekwesili; The Woman, The Social Activist, and Nigeria’s First Female President?
The journey to interviewing Oby Ezekwesili, the woman running for the highest office can only be described as divinely orchestrated; one AO called a ‘Godcidence’. We got real personal with her as she took us back to her journey and all the experiences that have moulded her into the woman she is today; bold enough to run for the nation’s highest office.
Throughout her life, Oby has been guided by the principles her father instilled in her. He was also the one who ignited her passion for governance. “It started from those moments as a child when my Dad would sit me by his side as we both listened to the news on radio, television or read the newspapers, after which he would ask me questions and engage me in a debate,” she says, recounting her initiation to issues on governance.
It was not surprising that as I grew into teen years and then went on to secondary school and university, the issue of bad leadership was a topic of deep interest to me. In discussions, people would stare at me in amazement as I would opine that we must all speak up against bad governance. I started writing Op-eds in Newspapers on the topic. I became a part of the Africa Leadership Forum and then co-founder of Transparency International, a member and then first woman to lead the Concerned Professionals which campaigned against military rule demanding restoration of MKO Abiola’s mandate in 1993. I was doing all these while being a core professional in the private sector. So, you could say governance found me very early in life.”
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Watch out for the full interview in our soon to be released November/December edition where we get real personal with the phenomenon that is OBIAGELI EZEKWESILI.
CREDITS:
Writer: Syreeta Akinyede
PHOTOGRAPHY: B.I.E Photography.
