The Wife of the President, Dr. Aisha Buhari, has decried what she described as political maneuverings, that has led to female candidates being robbed of their electoral victories.
Mrs. Buhari who will on Thursday host a national summit for female aspirants from all political parties, assured that her office will mobilize support for female aspirants to emerge as candidates and will equally play a role in collaborations targeted at improving the percentage of victorious female candidates.
The summit will be held at the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Abuja.
Speaking at a joint press briefing by organised by NCWD, the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS), Women In Politics Forum (WIF) on the upcoming summit, Mrs. Buhari, further assured of her sincerity and commitment to improving the success rate of female candidates across the political divide.
She maintained that the conference which women politicians contesting at the state and the national level are billed to attend, will not be just another talk-shop. This is as according to her, key Nigerian and international stakeholders with the capacity to deal with negative factors, that limit women’s participation in politics, such as violence and money politics will be present to articulate solutions.
Mrs. Buhari was represented at the media parley by her Senior Special Assistant on Administration, Dr. Hajo Sani.
She said: “As I said earlier, the bottom line is to hold political parties responsible and for them to state clearly what will be the stake of women in the election coming up in a few months. We know that severally, women will win elections and some kind of challenges will come up in the way and they will not be declared as winners.
“We want not only to dwell on creating a level playing ground for women to participate in the upcoming election at all levels. But to also support them to win and after they win, that they should be declared winners”.
Also speaking at the briefing, Director-General of the NCWD, Mrs. Mary Ekpere-Eta Esq., described the summit as timely, adding that female politicians have to be provided with the information and solid support at the right time.
Ekpere-Eta, hailed the commitment of the wife of the president to spearheading and coordinating useful collaborations for the success of female aspirants. This is as she expressed the preparedness of the Centre to act as an anchor for all female aspirants.
On her part, the National President of NCWS, Mrs. Gloria Laraba Shoda demanded that political parties come up with a quota, with a parentage of elective offices reserved for women.
Former Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Dame Pauline Tallen, Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Social Media, Mrs. Lauretta Onochie and president of WIF, Mrs. Ebere Ifendu, also called for full participation of female aspirants, as critical issues such as party internal democracy, election violence, campaign funding and planning will be discussed.
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