From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The agitation over the choice of vice presidential candidate to Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), took a new twist, yesterday, as a group of women stormed the national party secretariat and demanded that the slot be allocated to a female.
Led by the Deputy Women Leader, Hajiya Zainab Ibrahim, the group said it had sent a formal letter to the national leadership on their request.
The women also said they were in the secretariat to raise awareness and mobilise women to participate in the ongoing voters registration.
Speaking to newsmen during the event, Zainab said: “We have the competence to occupy the vice presidential seat and we have officially made request to the relevant quarters to that effect and only waiting for the response.”
She also requested the drafting of women as deputy governors to candidates of the party in next year’s polls.
“We requested top to bottom arrangements in the allocation of ticket for elective positions for the Nigerian women. We should be considered for the deputy governorship seat, National Assembly and even the Vice presidential ticket.” However, a member of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and Deputy National Organising Secretary, Chidi Duru, described the request as wish list.
“Yes, we have taken note of their requests and they are wish list. For now the issue of running mate for our presidential candidate is rested because we have submitted the name of Masari to the INEC and unless he withdraws from the position then every other consideration may be looked into, but now, their request is a wish list,” he said.
Meanwhile, another APC Women Inclusion in Governance group, under the auspices of Anty ZEE 774, yesterday, said as the 2023 elections approaches, Nigeria must address the sizeable gender gaps that undermine women’s inclusion in governance.
“There is sufficient and ever-increasing evidence that women inclusiveness in governance
and political decision-making processes help nation-building,” it said.
A letter submitted to the national leadership of the party, and signed by the Grand Coordinator, Princess Ann Nwanyibuife Agom-Eze, lamented the spate of insecurity in the country urging government to take action to reverse the trend.
“Nigeria is greatly wasting a precious resource in the gross under-utilisation and poor representation of women in governance and politics. Our great nation is at a cross road. We are confronted and bedeviled by the hydra-headed monsters of banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, alongside unprovoked, gruesome and wanton killings across the country, especially in the northern regions.
“This, together with my colleagues across the whole country strongly believe, could be reasonably checked if we make sacrifices and adjustments to our style of selection of leaders at all levels of government to include women. With gender inclusion comes economic empowerment.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigeria is greatly wasting a precious resource in the gross under-utilisation and poor representation of women in governance and politics i.e. playing with a half team, when we have the capacity of playing a star studded full team.”