Presidential candidate of Kowa Party (KP), Prof. Remi Sonaiya has identified failed leadership as the bane of nation’s development.
Blaming past leaders as lacking in vision and inability to inspire followership, she contended that they could at best be said to have been ‘managerial’.
Piqued at the Federal Revenue Allocation formula to states, the erudite scholar argued that the system resulted in the neglect of other areas of economic activities, particularly agriculture, with the production of important crops like groundnuts, cocoa and cotton plummeting.
Sonaiya, a columnist with TheNiche made the observations during an exclusive interview with the newspaper, expressing worry on the devaluation of lives in the land by insensitive leadership despite abundant resources.
She said the country is in a precarious stage that needed urgent attention of a real leader, saying that her “agenda is to make Nigeria a great nation where justice and fairness operate; a nation where everyone is taken into consideration without any bias, a nation where no one suffers exclusion’’.
On why she wants to be President she explained: “I am running for the Presidency because situation demands for it. As a nation, we need a new image. The country is in a precarious stage (no apology to anybody, even those at the helm). Our present position is affecting us tremendously. Look at the way the International Community views this nation. I think we don’t have enough time to fumble around anymore’’.
Speaking on her challenge as the only female Presidential candidate she told TheNiche: “My challenges are numerous, because some people are having retrogressive perception about women and their place in the society. Based on that notion, the impression is that Nigeria is not ready to have a woman president. This is nothing but a fallacy. Look at Liberia, Asia and Brazil. I want to say it clearly that such perception is changing with time.”
“Another challenge is that, I don’t really have the funds to do things the way I would have loved to. Not in the mega way or scale to do a huge flash like some of the other political parties are doing, but there are some basic things that are required for a serious campaign. This means that I have to work harder.”
