‘I Didn’t Steal While In Office’, Former Education Minister Says

Former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili has said that she is not among the class of public office holders who embezzle money while in office.

The former minister stated this at the ongoing national convention of the Foursquare Gospel Church in  Ajebo, Ogun State on Thursday, November 13, while speaking on integrity.

She said:

“There were times I couldn’t pay my mother’s rent, not because I couldn’t make a choice and build her a mansion. When I was in government, we had to withdraw our three children from their school to Baptist Special School. I was (just) answering big titles. Some of you would have said, ‘They are eating our money’. May God save those who speak without knowledge! I am not saying this so that you can say I am holy, I have my shortcomings.”

“Integrity will cost you a lot. Anyone who talks about integrity without the cost is preaching what I do not know about. Integrity can require a supreme cost from you. You will be persecuted for making the choice of integrity but make that choice nonetheless,’’ she added.

Dr. Ezekwesili also spoke on the issue of the missing Chibok girls:

“The 219 children of the poor remind me of my own poor background before I became a beneficiary of what God has done. God forbids that Oby Ezekwesili will be in this land and 219 girls, who went to get the same education that I got, were abducted and I will pretend as if nothing happened.”

The former minister added that she was able to preserve her integrity with the help of God and because of her family background adding that her father always said to his children that ‘a good name is better than gold and all the riches of the earth.’

Dr. Ezekwesili has been at the forefront of the #BringBackOurGirls movement and has continued with calls urging the Nigerian government to do more to rescue the missing Chibok girls.