2019: Female professor enters presidential race

Prof Olufumilayo Adesanya-Davies

Ahead of 2019, a professor of Language and Communication Arts at the Rivers State University of Education, Prof Olufumilayo Adesanya-Davies, has
announced her decision to run for the presidency. 

Prof Olufumilayo Adesanya-Davies, a professor of Language and Communication Arts at the Rivers State University of Education, has announced her intention to contest for the presidency in the 2019 election, The Sun reports. The aspirant made her position public while addressing journalists in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, on Tuesday, January 2.
Davies stated that she had first thought of running for the nation’s highest political office in 2015, and that she had even asked former President Goodluck Jonathan to allow her become his running mate. 

She also stated that in her bid for 2019, she had gotten the endorsement of GEJ’s wife, former First Lady Patience Jonathan. In her words: “I am aspiring to be the next president of Nigeria. I am out to put laughter of joy on the mouths of all. I have discussed this with the former presidential candidate, Sarah Jubril, who incidentally is from Kwara state.

“Her reaction was that if a miracle like this we ever happen, we have paid the price in Kwara state and it is going to happen in the state. “She said that Nigeria has opened the ground for Nigerian women, adding that my ticket is that of Nigeria, as the presidential form is free for women. “Historically, we will recall in 2015, another woman presidential candidate came. She floated a party called the KOWA party. Her name is Prof Remi Sonaya. She was my lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). “2015 was when I first thought about being a presidential aspirant. This is for the main reason that I was born October 15th and I got married at October 15th. “That time I said with President Goodluck Jonathan in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), I was going to be his running mate. I was sending text messages to him. I told him to let Vice President Namadi Sambo step down for him to be successful, but he did not listen to me. “But delay is not denial; that is why I am staging a comeback. I have done some consultations. The first person to put a call through was Patience Jonathan. I told her that I am picking the presidential form this time around, and she endorsed my decision. “Our first thanks will go to the nation- Nigeria that says the ladies could pick our forms politically at every level. Nigeria is confident that the current challenges in the country can only be tackled by the women. “However, we are still keeping the party under which place we will aspire, under close wraps. Later on, we will be announcing that through the press. We don’t have a platform yet. We are just saying that officially, this is a presidential aspirant for 2019; and later, we will take it to the next level. “As time goes on and we are taking counsel from the youths, the family, mothers and the children, we will declare on which platform the next first female president will be coming from.”