A four-time presidential aspirant, Sarah Jubril, has again declared her intention to run for presidency in 2011, on the platform of the ruling People’s Democratic Party.
She unfolded her plans at a news conference on Thursday, in Abuja, joining three other presidential hopefuls that have already declared interest to contest for the PDP ticket in the next dispensation.
Mrs Jubril joined the likes of former head of state, Ibrahim Babangida; former vice president, Abubarkar Atiku; and the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, who is slated to officially announce his ambition after the Ramadan fast.
Mrs Jubril said she made up her mind to join the race based on the premise for quality economic development and improved citizenry. According to her, most of the crises facing the country resulted from absence of good character in most people occupying public offices in the country and she pledged to address the quality of citizens through an improved system in the family, the communities, professions, economy, politics, governance, infrastructure, and diplomacy.
She also pledged to provide “rescuer-leadership”, to refocus and raise the country from “delayed development to steady wealth and rapid development.”
“Hence, I remain with an unquenchable spirit that I can and with all of us, can re-teach and re-nurture Nigeria back to sanity, orderliness, serenity, peace, and systematic discipline in all sectors..
“The president that Nigeria needs very urgently is the one who can roll up his or her sleeves to teach good character or ethics in the pursuit of excellence in every area of our quest, goals, and vision,” she said.
However, Mrs Jubril stated that the battle of liberation from stagnation, frustrations and mediocrity to celebration of excellence, must be won if Nigeria and Africa must achieve rapid development.
Commenting on zoning, she said the controversial arrangement in PDP was for “political convenience,” adding that there were over 450 ethnic groups in the country which the zoning formula intended to give sense of belonging.
For better for worse
She berated the performance of state governors, saying that majority of them had not in any way addressed the yearnings and aspirations of the electorate and that their interference with the allocations of the local governments was a failure of governance at the grassroots.
According to her, this has made it difficult for the councils to care for their people.
She, however, promised not to pull out of PDP, if she failed at the primaries, saying she would remain steadfast in the party, irrespective of the outcome of the presidential primaries.
This, however, marks the fifth time Mrs. Jubril is joining the race for the highest public service office in Nigeria.
She was an aspirant in the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1993, which was presumably won by the late Moshood Abiola. She was also an aspirant in 1998 on the platform of PDP, losing to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
In 2003, Mrs. Jibril took her ambition to the Progressive Action Congress (PAC) and later returned to PDP, to jostle for the party’s ticket in 2007. She scored four votes at the convention which was won by late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
