Businesswoman Khadijah Okunnu-Lamidi, who is the first woman to declare interest in the presidency ahead of the 2023 general elections, has revealed that her father the former minister of works, Femi Okunnu, feared for her life after her declaration to be the leader of the most populous black nation in the world.
Okunnu-Lamidi has been making headlines since she made her intention known.
“It was not easy at first even my father believed that I would be torn into pieces but he had always known politics was dirty and it was not an easy thing for me so he brought me up well. My family knows they have taught me well and shown me how to behave and lead my life so they are not afraid I’m doing this,” she told BBC Pidgin.
The 38-year-old will be Nigeria’s first female president if she wins the election.
She said she developed interest in being president after the #EndSARS protests which rocked major cities in the country most especially Lagos and Abuja.
Okunnu-Lamidi said she and the late musician Sound Sultan had spoken about supporting a young person to become Nigeria’s president until she decided to jump into the fray.
The CEO of Slice Media, who once worked in the civil service, said she has been in politics for about two decades learning.
Okunnu-Lamidi said she had not decided which party she would join to get her presidential ticket as independent candidacy is not valid in Nigeria.
According to her, she does not like talking about political parties because they do not bring solutions.
“I have never seen a party that has brought solutions for the betterment of everybody in the society. It’s just their own interests, and when you look closely you will see that most of the people are in PDP, APC and all the parties. All they do is cross-carpet, nobody has one party. This is now time for the youth to choose, to choose right,” she said.
