The New Experience Newspapers Online News Indepth, Analysis and More
Presidential candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) in 2019 election, Obiageli Ezekwesili; the 2015 presidential candidate for KOWA party, Professor Remi Sonaiya; and Ghanaian human rights lawyer and campaigner, Nana Lithur, have charged women to dominate the politics of 2023.
They lamented the existence of few women in governance, hence the issues affecting women, youths and children still linger, describing women as solution providers to any economic problem.
The trio spoke during a panel session at the Yale Women’s Leadership Forum held at the weekend to amplify the effectiveness and influence of women in African governments by serving as catalysts for open dialogue and fostering mentoring relationships between one generation of African women leaders and another.
On the dominance ofmale candidates in major political parties, Ezekwesili charged women to disrupt the current political structure in the country and strategise for the elections.
“We don’t have to get them to field in women; the women have to show that any political party that does not see the importance of the women segment of our electorate, which is almost half of it, does so at its own peril,” she said.
According to the former minister of education, as women are learning more about democracy, “I can bet you that in 2023, you will see women acting in a way to show that they recognise themselves as a bloc of the electorate that no political party can ignore.”
On her part, Sonaiya urged women not to wait for political leadership opportunities, but should create it themselves.
Senior Special Adviser to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, stressed that politics should not be seen as men’s world, but should be for everybody.
Women need to come together and work in unity to push themselves into political offices for better governance, said Lithur.
She urged them to lay aside their penchant for ‘soft life’ of fashion and paparazzi and face serious business of leadership.
“Enough of ladies going to the Internet to post pictures of their wedding and that of their pregnancy bumps. We need to look beyond that and see how we can empower ourselves so we can protect our future generation because the men will not give us opportunity to do this,” Lithur added.