Onthewatch The campaign by the Cross River State First Lady Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke for womens participation in higher political offices may have begun to yield results as more women are now jostling for offices in the 2015 elections, writes Roland Ogbonnaya As 2015 fast approaches, women in Cross River seem to be gearing up to slug it out in the political circuit. The yearning for increased female participation in the political process and consequently, the increased demand for female representation at all levels of political leadership is in all time high. From the governorship through the National Assembly positions to the State House of Assembly, there is a coterie of women, who have declared their intention to contest elections next year. Curiously, for the governorship, there is only one woman that has declared her intention for the exalted office. She is Mrs. Alice Achi, a banker. She has about 22 male aspirants to contend with. All of them are from the Northern senatorial district, where the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has zoned the governorship. Significantly, for deputy governorship position, a couple of women are speculatively said to be favoured for consideration against the men that are currently rooting for it. The whole idea, from THISDAY investigation, is for gender equity, while also bringing a woman of immense capacity to complement the man that would emerge as governor. The names of three women being speculated for this office are Senator Princess Florence Ita-Giwa from the Southern senatorial district, Professor Ekanem Ikpi Braide and Mrs. Tammie Kammonke, both from the Central Senatorial District. Ita-Giwa, a veteran politician and celebrity was in the House of Representatives in 1983 and the Senate in 1999. Braide is a renowned university teacher and administrator and currently, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Nasarawa, while Kammonke is an accomplished international organisation development and gender expert. She is currently an aide to Governor Imoke on Gender and Development. She is youthful and has a sense of initiative, which she has deployed in several ways to solving society’s challenges. These are all savvy women with enormous exposure and capacity to complement whoever may emerge the governor. For the senate seat, Dr. Rose Oko, who is currently in the lower chamber of the National Assembly is favoured to take over from Professor Senator Ben Ayade as Senator of the Northern Senatorial District, while Hon. Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo is set to return to the House of Representatives. A few other women are said to be in the race for the House of Representatives and the State House of Assembly. The impetus for increased women aspiration to political leadership in Cross River State is however rooted in the efforts of the wife of the Governor, Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke, through one of her initiatives, Power Political Advancement for Women (PPA4W). The project is intended to bridge the inequality in terms of access to availability of funding between male and female political contestants before and during elections. PPA4W is premised on the fact that gender equality and women’s empowerment are not only human rights; they are also imperative for achieving a fair, inclusive, equitable and sustainable society. This is also anchored on the fact that women’s political participation is central to the evolution of a stable and enduring political culture. The successful test-running of this initiative manifested during the last local government elections earlier in the year. In that elections, four women were elected chairs of their local government councils, 15 women emerged vice-chairs out of 18 local government councils and 56 women were elected councillors out of 196 councillorship positions; an increase of over 100 per cent over the previous elections. This is an unparalleled political feat that has attracted commendations all across the country and has made the state a reference point in gender equity in political balancing. Currently, several interest groups are running campaigns and creating awareness to the public about the inequities, which deprive Nigeria of otherwise well qualified women, who could serve successfully in various capacities across the country. Cross River State women have reached for that brass ring and are ready to take control of their own political destiny as females. They are taking responsibility for their political careers and surging forward on their own to be able to reach their goals. They are determined to go beyond being dancing damsels at campaigns, while men get elected. They have decided to take their destinies in their hands. They want to be part of the mainstream and things seem to be in their favour, more than ever before, by the enabling environment that the Liyel Imoke-led government has created, and also through the unparalleled and untiring political negotiating efforts being made by the wife of the governor through PP4WA. When the dream of having a female deputy governor becomes reality in May 29, 2015, history would have repeated itself, 23 years after the state produced the first female deputy governor in Nigeria, Mrs. Cecilia Ekpenyong.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 08:36:31 +0000
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