However, she's not selling her candidacy simply as a potential history-making first female Nigerian president but rather wants voters to elect her as the most suitable choice based on her character, competence and capacity to lead the country better than it has been led by previous administrations and the current one headed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

When at least 100 people were killed in Plateau State in June 2018, Ezekwesili, 55, called President Buhari, 76, "a leader without emotional intelligence" due to his apathetic reaction to the wanton violence that menacingly swept through the country in 2018.

One of Ezekwesili's regular beats is the promise to run a government that particularly cares about the people and their interests.

"I don't want to know anything about politics. I know how to care about other people. That is enough politics for me. Just having that mindset that you're not in this for yourself. That it has nothing to do with you. That is exactly what I'm going to be doing," she told Pulse during an October 2018 interview.

Her years of advocacy lends a great air of credibility to this promise as many people across the world recognise her as a co-founder of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group.

For over four years now, the group has relentlessly campaigned for the government to secure the release of 276 schoolgirls that were kidnapped by terrorist group, Boko Haram, in 2014.

Even though more than half of the girls have returned through escapes and negotiations, the advocacy group has not given up on the return of 112 girls, and other abducted victims, left in captivity with Ezekwesili leading several protests in Abuja including to the Aso Rock Villa itself. She was even briefly arrested during a protest in January 2018.

Ezekwesili's professional achievements

While many know her as an activist today, Ezekwesili gained renown on the Nigerian scene as a public officer in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.

She was the pioneer head of the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit that was responsible for sanitising public procurement processes. Her meticulous work earned her the nickname "Madam Due Process", a testament of her commitment towards accountability in the public sector.

She was then appointed the Minister of Solid Minerals (Mines and Steel) in 2005 and then later the Minister of Education in 2006. She left towards the end of Obasanjo's tenure to accept an appointment as the World Bank's Vice President for the African Region.

This put her in charge of the bank's operations in 47 African countries for five years, supervising a lending portfolio of over $40 billion that helped countries tackle various development challenges.

She has worked closely as an adviser to African leaders Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Paul Kagame, Alfa Conde, Joyce Banda, and many more. Banda, a former president of Malawi, has personally endorsed her to win next month's election.

Ezekwesili is also a co-founder of Transparency International, an international non-governmental organisation whose purpose is to take action to combat global corruption.

She has also served on the boards of Bharti Airtel, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the School of Public Policy of Central European University, The Harold Hartog School of Government and Policy, New African magazine, and The Center for Global Leadership @ Tufts University.

Ezekwesili on a rescue mission

Despite her awareness of the challenge it would take to displace Nigeria's two biggest candidates, President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ezekwesili believes the electorate has to wake up to its civic responsibility to make the best decisions for the country.

When she unveiled the roadmap to her campaign three months ago, she warned that the APC and PDP are really one party fielding just one candidate she colourfully named "BuTiku", "merchants of failure and disappointment".

"Attempting to choose between these two is like asking one to choose between death by poison or death by gunshot," she said.

Even though she's a late entrant into the presidential race that'll be decided in five weeks, the former minister believes Nigerians currently thirst for true leadership that she can deliver.

"You know my record. You know that when I say it, I do it. You know that when I promise it, I keep my word," she assured.

One of the major thrusts of her campaign is her promise to lift at least 80 million Nigerians out of poverty if elected president.

Nigeria is currently home to the largest population of people living in extreme poverty with an estimated 90.9 million Nigerians currently measured to be living on less than $1.25 (N381.25) a day.

Ezekwesili hopes to correct the situation by improving Nigeria's human capital and implementing the reforms and reorganisation to reduce bureaucracy in governance.

"The agenda is to mobilize the energies of the people and our private sector, invest in upgrading our capacity capabilities to compete globally, and end the bad policies which have turned Nigeria into Poverty Central," she said in October.

Ezekwesili believes her brightest chance of victory lies with millions of Nigerian voters who are disillusioned with the nation's political class so much that they always choose to stay away from the polls.

She has relentlessly called for all hands on deck to kick the establishment out and set a new course for the country.

"I'm tired of seeing Nigeria be at the bottom of every league that measures what it takes to be a viable country.

"I'm tired of hearing potentials. I've been hearing potentials since I was a child and for me, it's become dire that we should do something," she said two months ago.

Ezekwesili's running mate is Ganiyu Galadima, a man who lost the 2015 presidential election to Buhari, coming fourth with 40,311 votes.

The presidential election will take place on February 16, 2019.