As the campaign for the 2023 general elections gathers momentum, Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday advised the women wing of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to resist the temptation of concentrating their campaigns solely in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Rather, he said they should endeavour to take the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign to all the nooks and cranies of the country covering all the 774 local government areas as well as over 8,000 wards nationwide.
The President gave the charge while inaugurating the APC Women Presidential Campaign Committee (APCWPCC) at the Conference hall of the State House, Abuja.
Represented by his Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, President Buhari while stressing the need to spread the sensitization of voters and canvass for votes for the APC candidates said “As this launch is being hosted in Abuja, we must remember that the real war lies in far flung places away from Abuja.
“The task ahead lies in over 8000 wards and 774 local governments across the country, where party faithful will have to make a case before fellow citizens on our party’s candidate articulating the vision and the programme for the country.
“The campaign, therefore, should resist the temptation for it to be turned into an Abuja-centric activity but establish the connection between the voting public and our presidential candidate, and for other candidates for offices throughout Nigeria, that should be the ultimate objective.
“Throughout my political journey and my tenure as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, women have remained the most loyal and supportive group in my mission for a better Nigeria despite the challenges. They should extend this same support to our presidential candidate, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima.”
He acknowledged the contributions of the women population to his victories at both the 2015 and 2019 Presidential polls charging them to repeat same in 2023 by ensuring the emergence of the APC candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima as President and Vice President respectively.
President Buhari, who noted that women accounted for 47 percent of votes in the 2019 elections, said women participation would also be significant in the 2023 polls.
Commenting on calls for inclusion of more women in elective and appointive positions earlier made by his wife, Aisha Buhari, in her speech, the President said “As we prepare for the 2023 general elections, my administration has continued to listen to the strong voices of our women for gender justice, social inclusion, and adequate participation in the affairs of their country and in accordance with global, regional, and national conventions, agreements, protocols, and policies to which Nigeria is a signatory.
“It is in this regard that I hereby direct the Honourable Attorney General and Minister of Justice in conjunction with Honourable Minister of Women Affairs to work closely with the Office of the First Lady in ensuring that important legislations that can be brought before the National Assembly in furtherance of entrenching constitutional change and legal change and creating a level playing field for our women to be carried out assiduously.”
Earlier in her speech, the First Lady who is
also the Chairman of the APCWPCC explained that her committee had to extract assurances of more women inclusion in the next administration by signing a pact with the party’s leadership ahead of the polls
She said “Permit to voice out our concerns for the progressive decline in the involvement and participation of women in elective and appointive positions at all the three tiers of government. Our clamours and cries over the years have remained unattended to, especially at the levels of legislative arm of government. For this reason, our movement has no option than to ask the party leadership to sign a pact with Nigerian women. We have no option than to sign a pact with Nigerian women that will spell out the good policies of the party towards women for documentation and follow up purposes”.
Aisha Buhari assured that the women would begin their assignments with one target in mind: “deliver the presidency of APC in 2023. This is attainable because it has been done twice in 2015 and 2019.”
Also speaking amid shouts of “Jagaban” and “City boy” by women renting the hall, the APC Presidential Candidate , Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu assured that the country under his presidency will experience prosperity, security and brake away from the shackles of poverty that has characterised the nation, when elected in 2023.
While expressing his appreciation to the First Lady for kick starting his campaign, Tinubu also chastised the Peoples Democratic Party for misruling the country for 16 years before APC took over in 2015.
His words: “For Aisha Buhari to get us together, to kick-start the campaign of prosperity for our country. Let give solace to those who lost their lives and those in the hospitals, that God will heal all of them. Let me say thank you to our men in uniform for the peace we have had so far, for the great news of the release of the Kaduna disaster.
“To the women gathered here today, help is here, hope is here, assurance is here, promise is here, prosperity is here, security is here, banditry has ended, hopelessness is not part of our dictionary; we are confident people, unity is here; diversity is here; prosperity is here. That, what we have come to promote. We, as Nigerians, are not going to give up.
“In the last eight years, it’s been a party that inherited a troublesome nation under the weight of uncertainty. It’s easy to forget the situation that we found in there.
“Our opponents spent 16 years, they have forgotten that highway is an economy, that electricity is mandatory for industrialization. They don’t even understand the power of transmission lines and that there is a need for maintenance of it. They couldn’t even make down payment on rail track. They are political party of termites. If they say they want a change of government, just tell them, we like to be polite, but shut up your mouth.”
“They are in the village of lunacy. If they think, a nation is not just built on abusive language. 16 years, of rudeness, of digging the hole of indebtedness of PDP. Never again shall they come back. Who are they? They are looters. Who are they? They are squanderers. Who are they? They are prisoners and looters. Go out there and tell them, a new hope is here. Tell them, you are following the man who knows the way; tell them you are following the builder; tell them.”
In his remarks, the Director General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, and Governor of Plateau State, Hon. Simon Lalong, charged the Women to dwell on issues and avoid character assassination, hate speech and propaganda.
“Leave that to the opposition and stay with the achievements of our party in women empowerment and also tell them that under the Presidency of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Nigerian women and their children will have an even better deal.”
Lalong who lamented that women, especially under Governments of other political parties, we’re left behind, noted, however, that women were a great source of strength and capacity all over the world particularly in Nigeria where they have demonstrated their ability to provide solutions and achieve success in all fields of endeavour.
He advised the Women Team to “go all over Nigeria particularly into the grassroots and sell the agenda and vision of Candidate Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his running mate Senator Kashim Shettima whose pedigree for women empowerment is widely known.”
Continuing, he expressed confidence that “the women running this campaign are people that are familiar with the achievements of our Candidate and his passion for women.”
He emphasised that the idea of Women Campaign which is a unique innovation of the APC was not to create a parallel body for the campaigns.
According to him, the group was, rather, a complementary strategy that the Presidential Campaign Council has devised to ensure that women are fully involved throughout the campaigns.
He further noted that the idea was for women to understand, mobilise, and propagate the vision and mission of our Presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in order to enable them easily fit in during governance.
“Besides, there is no better way for women who have the numerical voting power to mobilise for the victory of our candidate, than to allow them run a robust campaign through the Tinubu/Shettima Women Presidential Campaign Team.
“The PCC will therefore fully support and monitor the activities of the Tinubu/Shettima Women Presidential Campaign Team to ensure that the general objectives of the PCC and the Party are achieved,” he said.
Also apeaking, APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu expressed confidence that with the women team now in place, there will be no stopping the APC victory in 2023.
He said if the women who are larger in number stand by their avowed support, the APC was ready to tap from their potential and ultimately deliver victory to Tinubu and his running mate Shettima during the Presidential election.
In her remarks, the Senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District and wife of the APC presidential candidate, Oluremi Tinubu, said that a Tinubu-Shettima presidency will be the “best option” for Nigerian women.
According to her: “The track record of both men (Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima) are gender sensitive”.
She also called on the over 1,250 women in attendance to mobilise votes for the APC flag bearer in their various constituencies.
On her part, the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen called on the party flag bearer to allocate 40 per cent of appointments to women if he clinches the Presidency in 2023.
The former Plateau State Deputy Governor said that with women occupying 40 per cent of appointive positions, the country will be set for a balanced leadership.
The women wing presidential campaign team of APC comprising of over 1,200 women drawn from across the country, is specifically to give a boost to the party’s quest for equitable gender representation in the electioneering process.
It will enjoy a degree of autonomy to organise its own programmes, of activities both at the national, zonal and state levels to rally supporters for the Tinubu/Shettima 2023 presidential bid.
Deji Elumoye
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