Presidential flagbearer of KOWA Party at the 2015 general elections, Professor Oluremi Sonaiya has asked Nigerians to accept responsibility for whatever they are going through under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to the former lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University, the electorates’ reasoning had been greatly influenced and that they were fixated on big political parties such as the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Sonaiya spoke to DAILY POST Tuesday night in Ikoyi, Lagos, at the retirement reception held for U.S. Public Affairs Officer in Lagos, Dehab Ghebreab and Information Specialist, Joke Omotunde.
“Many Nigerians had hoped for rapid transformation but every one has seen that things have really been slow,” she complained.
“After a year, one is not expecting that we would still be hearing promises and all these ‘we will do this’ statements. What we want to see are some tangible things that have been done.
“I’m saying now that let Nigerians be wise. Let not constrain ourselves and keep saying ‘oh it’s either PDP or APC. No! This thinking must stop. If there are other options, let us take them.
“Even you people in the media were biased, you focused on PDP and APC as if they were only two choices in the whole of Nigeria.
“The media did not help the people to properly know other candidates and make an informed decision. What we had was almost a total blackout of others.
“I believe now that we are all witnesses to what’s going on, we’ll think twice during the next general election.”
The retired Professor of French and Applied Linguistics further decried the state of Nigeria’s economy.
“I’m not an economist but as a concerned Nigerian who is also feeling the pain, the fact is that things are slow.
“Look at this current exchange regime; just annoying. Its N197 here and over N300 there. Does it make sense to anybody?
“They said certain category can go for the lower exchange rate. We asked: who has the right to go for N197? Based on what? Who qualifies? They say because some people have their kids studying abroad and things like that.
“But why should the rest of us be subsidizing their children abroad when most of us send our own children to the schools here? What is the thinking behind this kind of policy?
“Nigerians need some completely different thinking and action. Some say think out of the box, I say break the box! Things must not go on like this.”Asked if she will contest for presidency again in 2019, Sonaiya responded: “I hope so, only God knows tomorrow but we’ll see”.
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