At the Voice of Women Conference held at the NAF Conference Centre in Abuja on Tuesday, October 25, our dear mothers were abandoned to their fate by the presidential candidates they invited to hear from. Well, almost all. But you guessed already one man, who wouldn’t be in that bandwagon.
HE, the Labour Party (LP) candidate for the 2023 presidential election, Mr. Peter Gregory Onwubuasi Obi, has been very emphatic in many fora that women should be involved more in nation building. Not only in politics but in all areas of leadership in a country the male folks have majorly contributed to its present downfall.
As far back as 2002, exactly 20 years ago, the former two-term governor of Anambra State chose a woman as his running mate immediately he won the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA ticket. By so doing, he elevated the the feminine gender to the position of being a governor. When he was illegally impeached, HE Dame Virgy Etiaba was sworn in as the first female and only governor till date of a Nigerian state. Though she held sway for only three months as Obi was swiftly returned by the courts, the history can not be erased. And better believe it – Obi’s ways and history sleep together.
Immediately he became governor, he was very meticulous in unearthing a good number of appreciably qualified women to serve in the governing council as commissioners including;
Professor Stella Chinyere Okunna – Chief of Staff; Commissioner for information; Commissioner for Town and Regional Planning.
Lady Azuka Enemuo – Commissioner for Local Government.
Mrs Ngozi Okoye – Commissioner for Finance.
Dr. Kay Onyechi – Commissioner for Education, who later handed over to….
Dr. Uju Okeke – Commissioner for Education.
Dr. Ego Uzoezue – Commissioner for Women Affairs (first term)
Lady Henrietta Agbata – Commissioner for Women Affairs(second term).
Dr. Chinwe Anowai – Commissioner for Youths.
He also had many others as SAs, SSAs and other strategic departments. Listen to him talk and he will tell you that he prefers working with women because most of them serve with fear of God, are more dedicated and ever interested in the future of the youths, evidently because they are the mothers of these youths.
“With women in strategic places it’s always very easy to curtail corruption,” the presidential candidate of the Labour Party always says.
It is therefore not mere promises when he told the over 500 women from all states of the Federation at the Conference hall that he would involve not less than 40% of the female gender in his government as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Great respect should equally go the way of the presidential candidate of the Action Alliance, AA, Major (retd) Hamza Al Mustapha for equally recognising that dear mothers of the nation deserve every attention and inclusion into governance by honouring them with his presence.
Question should be asked why other candidates including those of All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, HE Atiku Abubakar, New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, HE Rabiu Kwankwaso and 13 others decided to ignore such significant conference.
Nigerians are witnesses to what a government that has a leader who believes that women duties are restricted to the kitchen and the other room has done to the nation. We cannot afford another leader who will neglect the very important roles women play in nation building, particularly a sinking nation like Nigeria.
This is the voice of PO Express Media, POEM.
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