National Women Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Betta Edu says the presidential election was keenly contested across board and women were given tickets to go all out and contest on different positions.
According to Edu, 94 women got tickets from APC to run for various seats.
She stated that now that the national assembly elections are over, the party does not see the numbers victorious returning to the party, even though INEC has not fully decided all of the seats, but the numbers that have turned out are still low.
“This is another opportunity to say that Nigerian women require 36% affirmative action and that Nigerian women want to be on the front burner.
“We are overjoyed that Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu has been elected President-elect.
“He has stated very clearly in his action plan, which he will begin working on almost immediately beginning with the transition committee, that women will be manstreamed, that 35% of his federal executive council will be women, and that this will cut across federal strata.”
Speaking on how the APC plans to make up for the current shortfall Betta Edu said the party had earlier reviewed its constitution on the 26th of March 2022 and women were given their rightful place .
“First, we have two women on the NWC, and women are allowed to run for every other position in the party, from the chairman on down.
“Another very strong constitutional review was that the delegates for each election, if two out of every five must be female, and one out of every three must be female, all of this constitutional review is aimed at increasing women’s participation in politics.
Reiterating the importance of women in politics and nation building, the APC national women’s leader stated that President-elect Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu thanked Nigerian women for their contributions to his election as President-elect.
According to her, the president-elect has stated that he needs women in his cabinet to help with nation building.
“Asiwaju has always supported women and will do a lot more now that he is president-elect.