Good legislation, financial empowerment will encourage women’s participation in politics — Ganduje

Joel Oladele, Abuja

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje has pointed out economic challenges and lack of women friendly legislation as the reasons for the continuous decline in the number of women in politics.

Ganduje noted this while playing host to a group of women under the aegis of Progressive Sisters’ Network (PSN) in his office on Tuesday.

Reacting to their earlier request for more women inclusivity, the APC National Chairman said, the saying “No woman, No nation” will be more relevant if women are provided with enough money to contest elections and laws are put in place to mandate political parties to present a certain number of women candidates.

“You have mentioned one issue that we need to look into, which is women participation especially in elective positions which is declining. There is a need for research for that, but from layman’s view, or for those who are active in politics, there are two major factors.

“One,  economic participation: If economic participation among women is high, then the notion of ‘No woman, No nation’ will feature well, because you will be able to compete with men at the grassroot level.

“I’m not saying that politics is a money bag thing, but equally the same. If you have financial work, you know how you can organise your campaign, to request money, transportation, printing of posters, giving allowances to agents here and there, does not mean both ways anyway but you need money.

“Logistics, even publicity on television, radio, you need money. So, if women are empowered, especially if women are given skills so that they can participate actively, they will be able to compete in the country.

“Another aspect that could be considered is through legislation. If political parties by the electoral law are being forced to provide women candidates, then they have no option but to provide women candidates and by doing so we will be able to increase women’s participation in elections.

“So, these are contemporary issues that I think politicians should be able to consider,” he said.

Commending the leader of the group, who happens to be one of the daughters of the late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola (MKO), Rinsola Abiola, Ganduje noted that it’s obvious she has taken after her later father in terms of politics and promised to provide necessary supports for the group.

He added that the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the last Presidential election was a repeat of history as it can be likened to what happened in 1993 when Abiola from the South-West defeated a Northerner.

“Three years ago, I said history will repeat itself and we are happy that history repeated itself.

“I become nostalgic because your father contested as a presidential candidate and we in Kano as a nationalist who believe in the nation irrespective of religion, tribe and ethnicity, we defeated our own son. Your father defeated our own son in Kano in the election.

“I believe politics to you is through the gene. I’m not surprised. You know all your members, you know them by name by what they do. So, we thank you for this courtesy call and we acknowledge your effort in making it easy for us to win the election in Nigeria.

“You are role models to women, especially young women in Nigeria. I am so happy that you are of different disciplines and you are all over the country representing different ethnic nationalities in this country.

“I believe you have the list of your members and what they do. So that we would be able to include you in various party activities and also we should be able to advise if we get the chance for appointment positions,” Ganduje promised.

Speaking earlier, the leader of the group, Rinsola Abiola said the group which comprises women within the age range of 20s to mid 50s is out majorly to support APC to win elections.

She expressed worries on the drastic decline in the number of women in politics and demanded that the party do something to ensure women are not left behind in the scheme of things.

“This is a collection of like minds where women from across the APC with our ages ranging from early 20s to mid 50s. Many of our members are young. And we also have representation across campuses, because we’re very particular about making sure that nobody is left behind, or that women of all ages are not left behind.

“Our major aim is to mobilise young women’s votes generally for the party, and also in a sense to mobilise the party for women, and what I mean by that is we take it upon ourselves to sell the vision of the party to women across the country.

“So at the PSN, our mission is simple. If we look at the last assembly, I think we had about 22 women or so who were in House of Reps and the Senate, but when you look at it now in total, there are just about 17 of them.

“The number of women who are actively involved in our politics has seen a steady decline. And we believe that to bridge this gap and to correct this issue there needs to be a conscious effort to actually generate interest in politics with young women, especially because we want to be able to occupy those positions in future,” Rinsola stated.

She appreciated the APC chairman for being a woman friendly leader and also canvassed more support for women.

“It’s very important that we have the skills that we need to survive in our political terrain. And at this point, I would like to thank you for  your support for women.

“You believe in gender sensitivity, you believe in women empowerment. You believe in women’s inclusion. And we thank you, your excellency, for all of this.

“These are traits that are rare in leaders these days. I’m very happy that our national chairman is somebody who actually does see the importance of women as people and as members of the political party system.

“We are very grassroots oriented. Every single woman seated on this table is very active at the grassroots. We have the professional qualifications, but we also have political acumen.

“We also aim to ensure that women are better represented in governance and politics to be more active, and hopefully, by God’s grace to also take up more positions.

“We understand that there are many different pathways to power. We are still hoping to have more of our people offered Federal appointments. And we’re just really here to express our solidarity.

“We ask your excellency that you take us as your daughters, that you take PSN as your project and see us as a part of your team,” she said