Women participation in politics key to emancipation – Leadtots Development Initiative, others
By Chima Azubuike
Leadtots Development Initiative has decried the performance of women in politics, saying that alot was required in order to attain the needed emancipation.
Speaking in Gombe, during a roundtable on women political participation with the theme; Promoting youth and women candidacy in Nigeria, organised with support from National Endowment for Democracy, Washington DC, Senior Programme Officer Seun Justin, called for favourable reforms.
Justin lamented that across elective positions in the last general elections, women lost in both State and National Assembly elections.
Our correspondent reports that the lone female member in Gombe Assembly representing the Shongom constituency Asma’u Ignanus, lost her re-election bid, as well as member representing Dukku/ Nafada Federal Constituency Aishatu Dukku, lost.
He disclosed that the round table for political participation, would advance for women rights, adding “women are organised to consider the issues that affects them also devise means of addressing this issues.
“Is very sad that the whole of Gombe State, we don’t have women in the National Assembly as well as State Assembly, this is a decline to what we’ve been having and is sad that major political parties did not stage women as expected to, it also tells us what to do in ensuring that women voices are amplified at every level of governance especially at the grassroots.
Speaking further on the expected impact of the meeting Justin said, “This one is a response concerning the 2023 general elections, we know that the election has not been favourable for the women especially in Gombe State, so this is to evaluate the elections, how it went and the impacts of the campaigns and the entire electoral process on women candidacy.
“Examine political reforms that can ensure that women emerges political positions in future also consider the experiences of those who contest elections, what we can learn. if we can also deduce ways of encouraging more women to political positions that’s the essence of the meeting today.”
He decried saying that not like women are not interested but the needed opportunities have not been available, adding that inclusion of women would ensure their speedy emancipation.
Justin added, “It has become obvious that women are ready what is missing is the organisation and also the empowerment from our meeting
“Another key issue is how women can lobby our political party leaders, and the governor himself to ensure that women have upper hand in this administration because the more women that are empowered politically, the more we talk about women emancipation happening they will also look at political party reforms.”
On her part, Development Consultant, Hannatu Yaro, called for women to support themselves, adding that there are many qualified ones.
Yaro said, “We should be able to support ourselves as women towards attaining various positions of authority.”
Also, Independent National Electoral Commission Gombe State’s Public Affairs Officer, Mohorret Bigun, while presenting on ‘lessons, opportunities of for political and electoral reforms from the election’, said his organisation has become more transparent.
He said, “We have gone past the era where people wrote results from their houses. Previously, results were manipulated.”
On the decline of voters in the just concluded election, Bigun added, “the introduction of BVAS reduced manipulation of votes. The BVAS worked perfectly, for those saying BVAS didn’t work, it worked perfectly.”
