The Peoples Democratic Party has asked women to be ready to
pay for nomination forms instead of waiting to be asked to pick them free by
political parties. The Punch reports that the party said this would enhance
their participation and also earns them respect in politics.
We gathered that the Chairman, National Caretaker Committee
of the party, Ahmed Makarfi, stated this when he received the Minister of Women
Affairs and Social Development, Senator Jummai Alhassan, at the PDP
headquarters in Abuja on Monday July 17. Makarfi said the PDP would support the
enactment of a law in support of the gender parity in politics and
participation in governance.
He said: “If it is in compliance with the law, everybody
will comply, but if you leave it flexible, it is an escapist route. Forget
about the nomination form, pay and get the ticket. Let us do the right thing.”
He also made a case for consideration of the women’s move to
secure legislation backing the 35 per cent affirmative action on women
participation in politics and government in the ongoing constitutional
amendment process.
While praising the minister for her productivity, Makarfi
said: “I am not very surprised that you are doing well because you were trained
and brought up by the PDP.”
Earlier, the minister had asked political parties to adopt a
policy of voluntary electoral party gender quota system as a means of
guaranteeing more participation of the womenfolk in politics and governance.
She described the initiative as a deliberate strategy of earmarking
constituencies solely for female candidates during an election.
Alhassan lamented that Nigeria remained one of the most
backward and poor performing countries on the African continent, in the area of
women’s political participation and leadership.
She said: “Although the Nigerian constitution guarantees
equality for everyone in all spheres, women have not enjoyed this
constitutional right. “As a result, we have been overtaken by countries like
Rwanda with 66 per cent women’s representation in parliament, South Africa with
40 per cent, Seychelles over 50 per cent, Ghana, 35 per cent and a large chunk
of the other African countries with over 25 per cent. “Unfortunately, Nigeria
stands at less than six per cent, making the country, though the ‘Giant of
Africa,’ a midget in comparison to others in this area.” She begged the party
leaders to join hands with women as various political parties’ commenced preparations
for 2019 general elections.
Apart from seeking gender quota, the minister said women
were demanding that the APC, the PDP and other political parties should make
women’s wings within political parties to be part of the political party
decision-making structures, formulate strategies for prevention of violence
against women in elections
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