The presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and the only woman in the race, Princess ChiChi Ojei, yesterday, refuted her party’s decision to collapse its structure for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its flag-bearer, Atiku Abubakar.
Calling it a setback for Nigerian women, Ojei said it came as a shock to her that the National Executive Council (NEC) members of the party connived because of greed, to truncate the chances of producing the first female President of Nigeria, distancing herself from what she described as unscrupulous and despicable endorsement.
It would be recalled that the National Chairman of the party, Yusuf Dantalle, at a press conference held on Thursday night, said they were collapsing their structure into the PDP and wouldn’t be supporting Ojei
Speaking at a press conference in her hometown in Issele Uku, Delta State, Ojei called on women and all well-meaning Nigerians to rescue the country from intimidation, harassment and further alienation of women in Nigeria’s political development.
She added that her emergence as the only female Presidential candidate in the presidential race was one that was warmly received by many Nigerians from across board because it showed gender inclusion, as women remain marginalised during elections.
She said, “As the only female Presidential candidate in the race, the fate and chances of almost 45 million women who make up a large percentage of the electorate, are currently being threatened. I consider this a huge setback for Nigerian women and an insult on my teeming supporters and party faithful, seeing that the only female presidential candidate is about to be taken out of the league by a platform that initially believed in her vision, capacity and capability to set the country on a steady path of continued positive transformation.”
She called on the entire nation and international community to rise up in defense and for the sake of equity; fairness and justice stop the party leadership from embarking on such a shameful and disappointing act.
