By Abba – Eku Onyeka
A former Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) chairmanship aspirant under the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon Murtala Usman Karshi has enjoined Nigerian women to involve themselves in politics.
This charge he gave the women was contained in his International Women’s Day (IWD) message to them.
The IWD is marked every 8th day of March and the theme for this year’s edition is, Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID – 19 World.
Beckoning the women to come into politics, due to the potentials in them, the APC stalwart in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and a former Supervisory Councillor for Health in AMAC said that most women were afraid of going into politics, just as he added that it shouldn’t be like that.
“Education is very important in whatever we are doing. In some areas, women are denied education. We need to encourage the women to involve themselves in politics. If people are educated and enlightened, you don’t need to go to someone to preach, before giving a woman a chance to rule.
“Some women are better than men. As l said earlier, in some areas, they don’t send the women to school. I was in Malta last two years and their president is a woman and she is doing well.
“Not only in Africa, countries of the world should begin to give chance to women, because they are like us. I am not saying that all the women should be given opportunity. But those who can stand the taste of time should be encouraged.”
Reiterating the need for the women to be encouraged in politics, Hon Murtala Usman Karshi however regretted that most women were scared of being politicians, just as he noted that with women in politics, they can move mountain.
Citing the present minister of finance; former minister of environment, who is currently holding international appointment and the present Director-General of World Trade Organisation (WTO) as typical example of what the women can do, if given an opportunity, adding that women are less corrupt than men.
On if Islamic religion would allow women to be exposed, he said: “It has a limitation, because you are not expected to come out so radical. All those ones I mentioned above, the current minister of finance, who travels globally and the former minister of environment, who is now holding international appointment, are they not Muslims?”
Though he said that he wouldn’t like the women to involve themselves in the military, but he was quick to add that they should be encouraged in all aspects of life, including health, education, among others. He said that due to the potentials found in the women, “If you educate a single woman, you have educated a whole nation.”
Hon. Murtala Usman Karshi spoke at length on the need to provide good good health facilities for the women, whom she described as mothers, wives and managers of resources in the home, among others.