* backs INEC on BVAS
By Michael Oche
The League of Women Voters (NILOWV) on Wednesday warned politicians that the 2023 general elections will not be business as usual where poor rural women are deceived to sell their votes for wrapper and salt.
President of NiLOWV, Dr. Mrs. Esther Uduehi while addressing journalists in Abuja said the group has been sensitising women in rural communities to know their rights and how best to take advantage of the PVCs to demand for good governance.
The group also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to resist pressure from politicians who are opposed to the deployment of the Bimodal Voters Accredidtation System (BVAS) for the 2023 elections.
Dr Uduehi said it is no news that Nigeria’s political space has been male-dominated despite the fact that women constitute a large chunk of the voting population.
According to her, as of the last official release by INEC, women constituted over 40% of the about 84 million voters on the register.
She, however, said women remained severely under-represented in key fields, especially in politics and this has manifested in the form of institutionalized discrimination, disenfranchisement, and outright marginalization within the Nigerian polity.
The group expressed its dissatisfaction at what it described as the marginalization of women in the political space, therefore, imploring political parties to deliberately create space for women in their parties as well as on the political parties’ campaign councils.
She said, “This upcoming 2023 General Elections will not be business as usual, NILOWV is already tracking the campaign promises of parties especially as it relates to women’s inclusion and will hold any successful candidate of the elections.”
Furthermore, she said, ” We strongly condemn the present practice of the “handout system” employed by almost all the political parties and political office holders, and so, we demand that women are given all the support they need to participate and win elections. We equally demand affirmative action; that is how we define “gender equity”.
“The league calls on political parties, political office holders, and candidates for the 2023 General Elections to include women as agents of change to actualize the 35 percent affirmative action in critical roles in the campaigns, in policy document preparation, strategy sessions, and other critical aspects of the electoral process. We demand a fair space for our women.
As the campaign progresses, we expect a violence-free campaign devoid of hate speech and call on the actors to respect the letters of the Peace Accord signed a few weeks ago.”
The President said as part of the campaign, NiLOWV expects politicians to address issues of gender inclusiveness, security, education, respect for human rights, among others.
She said, “We therefore call on the women and Nigerians to ensure that they collect their Permanent Voters Card (PVC), vote, and contribute towards a free, fair, peaceful, and credible election by not selling their votes. Our voices are equal at the ballot box so we must use our votes to our best advantage.”
