Anambra guber hopeful harps on women’s role in development

A People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in the November 18, 2017 governorship election in Anambra State, Oseloka Obaze, has said that women play positive roles in the development of society.

Obaze, who was the immediate-past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), said this in an interview at the 2017 Women’s Forum organised by the Catholic Women Organisation (CWO) of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish G.R.A, Awka.

He stressed that women, as the people who raise children, are saddled with societal values, adding that children mostly take on the norms and values handed down to them from their homes.

He said although the man is the head of the family, the role women play in shaping society ought to be better cherished and appreciated.

“The man is the head of the family. A woman is also a critical part of the family. They both have their roles to play, but there is no society that can advance without the valued role of women,” he noted.

He said he has been in the forefront of the advocacy for more women participation in governance, adding that having more women in positions of authority was not only right on the grounds of fairness, inclusion and equity, but it also makes more room for robustness, competitiveness and increased creativity.

He assured that if elected as governor, his government would have a 60-40 gender ratio, while his other plans for Anambra would be unveiled when the election campaigns commence.

Obaze who attributed what he has achieved in life to the training and nurture he got from his mother after his father died during the civil war her, declared: “I am a product of a woman’s tutelage. So if people consider that I am good, it is because of the woman who raised me.”

While condemning wife beating, Obaze, who is a consultant pediatrician, warned that anyone who assaults his wife should be jailed, just as he extended the same courtesy to some women who, in rare cases, beat up their husbands.