President Muhammadu Buhari Friday charged female lawmakers to partner with him over his 2019 re-election bid. The President made the request when he received female legislators under the aegis of Conference of Nigeria Female Parliamentarians ( CONFEPA) , at the Presidential Villa on Friday.
He asked the delegation to take the message of his re-election to their colleagues, as well as to extend support for his reelection bid adding that he has openly declared to seek for second term.
” I want thank you for this visit and also urge you to spread the message of my second term as l have openly declared to seek for reelection”
Responding to their requests for a Vice President’s slot , the President jokingly noted that ” it is a pity that the Vice President is not here, but I am sure the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will brief him that his position is threatened. “
On their request that the President should make a pronouncement that out of every three Senatorial seats in the state, one slot should be ceded to a woman and out of every nine slots in the House of Representatives, at least three should be given to women, the President simply told the gathering that he was not “ as powerful as you think.”
He said he lacked the powers to make such pronouncement and that the request could only be made by a military head of state, but, he had already dropped the uniform for “agbada”.
He said, “I am not all that powerful that when I talk it becomes a decree. As I said it is only the Vice President that is threatened,” he said.
The President allayed the fears of the women lawmakers that the men were already regrouping to suppress and marginalize them in the forthcoming elections, saying that there was no such plot.
He further told the lawmakers that they were fairly treated, adding that if there was a plot against them many of them would have not been elected.
Speaking earlier, leader of the delegation, Elizabeth Ative, pleaded with President Buhari to cede the Vice President’s slot to the women for gender balancing
He said she was hinging her requests on global practices adding that “many African and European Nations are daily finding ways to include more women in governance. Some have elected or appointed women as Heads of States, Prime Ministers, Heads of Foreign Ministries and other key positions of decision making.
“It will not be out of place, Your Excellency, for women to be given such opportunities in our dear nation. Even God created them male and female.”
She said the country only had one principal officer in each of the two chambers of the National Assembly since the return to democracy in 1999.
According to her, “The impunity at which the former handlers embezzled with reckless abandon has become a thing of the past in our country because of Your Excellency’s doggedness, courage, firmness and integrity in standing for truth, fairness and equity.”
“Politically, women account for over 50 percent of voters in any election. They are very loyal politicians and do not cross-carpet. They wait patiently to cast their votes under the rain and even in the scorching sun.
“It will interest Your Excellency to know that Nigeria is a signatory to several conventions and treaties supporting and encouraging the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, women liberation and political participation such as the African Charter in Human Rights (1981).
“The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW, 1995), the Beijing Declaration and platform for action (1995), the goal No. 3 of the Millennium Development Goals No. 5 (SDGs), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to but a few.
“However, Nigerian women have not been given their rightful place in the scheme of things. Women political empowerment in Nigeria ranks a lowly 111th position of 145 countries surveyed in the 2015 Global Gender Gap Report.
“Today, Nigeria falls short of the National Gender Policy benchmark of 35% minimum representation for women as well as the global and regional benchmarks of which she is a signatory, ranking 181 out of 193 countries in female representation according to statistics from inter parliamentary union.”
