Betta Edu, National Woman Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared that the party will not give its presidential ticket to a candidate who will not favour women in the 2023 general election.
Edu said this while addressing the Women Wing of the Yahaya Bello Campaign Organisation, Hope 23 who paid her advocacy visit at the APC National Secretariat in Abuja.
She noted that all presidential aspirants on the platform of the APC were people of impeccable leadership acumen who are above average, saying the party under the leadership of President Muhamadu Buhari will decide those to emerge as aspirants for the forthcoming polls.
The APC Woman Leader while commending Yahaya Bello, Kogi state governor for his gender friendly policies and programmes, tasked the Women Wing of his campaign team to mobilise members of the party to get registered as voters to be able to vote for APC candidates during elections.
“Working with her governor she (SSG) was able to ensure that women were made directors-general, heads of parastatals and they made a difference. We want to thank you all for your support to the governor. He is a great man.
“If indeed you are supporting a candidate in APC, you are supporting Governor Yahaya Bello, you must go out now and begin the door to door mobilisation for registration. Go door to door and begin the campaign for voter registration,” Edu said.
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In her remarks, Folashade Ayoade, Secretary to the Government of Kogi State (SSG) described Bello as a lover of women who can protect and project their interests as evident in the appointment of women into key positions in Kogi state.
Ayoade said: “I need to just let you know of the fact that Yahaya Bello loves women, he gives us a place of honour. In Kogi state as we stand from 2016 to date, I have been the SSG a woman. Not just that, the head of service has been a woman.
“We have a pioneer pension commission, His Excellency say let me put a woman, DG. All the 21 local government areas all the vice chairmen are women. We have six institutions, three of them (leaders) are women. His Excellency loves to put women in places of honour. He likes to give us relevance.”
Zara Onyinye, Director of Women Mobilisation, Hope 23, said Bello’s chances of winning the general election for APC are huge, because of his favourable disposition to women who constitute the highest percentage of voter’s.
While calling for the support of the National Woman Leader to the aspirant, Onyinye said: “a candidate who supports a woman will definitely stand the chance of winning this election because women form the highest number of voters and across Nigeria.
“They also know that if they support that person, that person who has shown that he has the women in his heart, he has love for women, he creates enabling environment for women, he gave them that opportunity to sell and that person is Yahaya Bello.
“All the women have shown that he have indicated interest as the person who supported them, that same person they’re going to support. So that stands him out of all the aspirants going for this election.
“The other one is for the youth. Yahaya Bello is a youth, as we all know, and if you check all his appointees in Kogi state, I can say that 95% of them are all youths of Nigeria, and I know they will support him.”
