BY AHMED TUKUR, LAFIA – Some female stalwarts of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State have accused the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration of favouring men over women in appointments and recognition, particularly within the ruling party.
Dragging the President over what they termed as ‘systematic marginalization’, the aggrieved women claimed his government consistently favours men over women in key appointments and political recognition as they affect Nasarawa State.
Pointedly, the women said the administration’s seeming indifference in acknowledging the women folks is amplified further with the obvious marginalisation of female stakeholders in composing the APC Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC).
Raising their concerns at Tuesday’s inauguration of the Nasarawa State APC gubernatorial and Presidential Campaign Council in Lafia, the state capital, some of the local women leaders in Nasarawa insisted that the APC-PCC’s line-up is a definitive proof that women are intentionally sidelined from the power centre.
Giving a voice to the brewing discontent over leadership choices in the ruling party, one of the women, Salamatu Ogezi from Arikya in Lafia Local Government Area, questioned why the Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, was appointed Director of Youth in the campaign organisation without a corresponding appointment for the Minister of Women Affairs, Imaan Suleiman.
For Ogezi, the Minister of Women Affairs should have been appointed Director of Women Mobilisation to ensure adequate representation of women in the campaign structure.
She described the development as a worrying indication that women may even be exposed to greater marginalisation after the elections might have been won and lost.
Similarly, Jeniter Joseph from Mararaba in Karu Local Government Area accused the Tinubu administration of failing to establish clear policy directions aimed at improving the living conditions of women, especially those in the country’s rural communities.
According to her. “We are yet to get any policy direction from the APC directing states to ensure the living condition of women”, alleging the Women Affairs Minister is being sidelined in the Campaign Council, despite her efforts at promoting women’s welfare across board
Also speaking to their pain, Hajiya Kande Sallau pleaded with President Tinubu to separate the Women Mobilisation Directorate from the Presidential Campaign Council and allow the Minister of Women Affairs to fully oversee its activities for effective mandate delivery ahead of the 2027 general elections.
She said Nigerian women remained critical stakeholders in engineering the success of President Tinubu administration, warning that the APC could jeopardise its electoral chances of securing a second term without deliberately coveting their support.
“Only Nigerian women can guarantee the success of the Tinubu administration, and without our votes, APC should forget a second term,” Sallau warned.
Further stressing the need for an independent Women Mobilisation Directorate, she argued that such an arrangement would enable the directorate to operate more effectively and make greater impact connecting with the grassroots.
