From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Minister of Women Affairs Pauline Tallen have accused the All Progressives Congress (APC), People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Labour Party (LP), among other political parties, of being unfair to women in regard to political participation.
Tallen, who spoke in Abuja at a national dialogue on preventing violence against women in the 2023 general elections, organised by Women in Politics Forum, encouraged women not to be weight down by male political domination.
Recall that the Allied People’s Movement (APM), whose presidential candidate is a women, collapsed its structure and endorsed Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the February 25 poll.
But the former deputy governor of Plateau State said: “Unfortunately, the National Assembly. In fact, all the political parties have not done well for women. I say it openly, including my party. Almost all parties are not fair to women.
“It is not like we do not have qualify women. Despite all that, I do not want your spirit to be dampened. The struggle continues. We will continue to intensify until we change their mind set.”
WIPF Convener Barr Ebere Ifendu called on relevant authorities to protect women against violence during and after the elections.
“Women in politics wants violence addressed ahead of elections. This is like a continuation of the meetings with security agents and candidates; we want to see that violence is reduced drastically,” Ifendu stated.
“Women are, mostly hit when there is violence and you can see that our situation in Nigeria today is very pitiable and scary; it’s so uncomfortable for everyone including the men because people are now feeling the impact women.
“It is now a scary situation because even men are also feeling it. The level of violence is something we need to address, we have an election in few days’ time and a lot of things are happening.”