Women politicians protest exclusion in Buhari’s appointments
Scores of women politicians and activists under the auspices of the Women in Politics Forum (WIPF) yesterday in Abuja protested the exclusion of women in the appointments made so far by President Muhammadu Buhari.
President of the forum, Barrister Ebere Ifendu, said the President’s action was unjustifiable as it portrayed an administration with gender insensitivity in its pattern of political appointments despite the promises made during the president’s election campaigns. Ifendu added that the manner of appointments also ran contrary to the National Gender Policy (NGP), which stipulates 35 per cent affirmative action.
The activist recalled that before the inauguration of the President Buhari administration, the WIPF had protested the deliberate marginalization of women in the constitution of his 19-member Transition Committee, which had only two women - Nike Aboderin and Bola Adesola - despite the fact, she pointed out, that women constitute 50 per cent of the nations’ population.
“We find this trend to be not only repugnant, but a gross abuse of the fundamental rights of the womenfolk in our country. Experience has shown that this government is focused on its policy of perpetual marginalization of women. How else can we explain a situation where, apart from the nomination of a woman as the acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), no other woman has made the list of present appointees of the President?” Ifendu queried.
She called on the All Progressives Congress to note that its collective record of women in top political offices is poor, with a dismal three out of eight women in the Senate and five out of 17 in the House. “The numbers in the state Assemblies is even more discouraging. It is only with appointments that this anomaly can be addressed and the APC can make good its promises to Nigerians in its manifesto,” Ifendu said.
Amina Salihu and Olufunke Baruwa of the Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund (NWTF), Hauwa Shekarau of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Ezinne Amaka Agbiogwu of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Dr. Dayo Kusa of the National Peace Summit Group and Helen Odeh of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) unanimously said President Buhari should not see women as less important now and unworthy of appointments after he had deemed them valuable during the election campaign.
The group, therefore, urged the President to appoint INEC Chairman and Commissioners with an appreciable representation of women, in line with the NGP.