Enugu women demand deputy governorship slot

A few weeks to the governorship election, women in Enugu State, under the auspices of Women Support Women (WSW), have demanded for women to be considered for deputy governorship position.

They urged people of the state to vote and support the political party with a woman as deputy governorship candidate in the interest of fairness and equity.

They made the demand at a media briefing by the state Coordinator of the group, Onyinye Mamah. The state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who is about to serve out his tenure, has a woman deputy governor.

The women group said they would not accept a situation where women would not be considered in the state for sensitive roles in the next dispensation.

Mamah noted, “the era of including women to favour them and make them keep quiet is envisioned as archaic, retrogressive and laid back.

“The representation of women in governance should come naturally.” She said even though men have dominated the political space over the years, they have only kept citizens in misery.

“There is no fuel despite subsidy and there is no money; there is no space for people to revert to the old currency, and the effect is telling on the poor,” she lamented.

Currently, only the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has a female deputy governorship candidate, Princess Edith Ugwuanyi, in next month’s polls.

Commenting on the reality of their request, considering that APGA may not have enough structure to win the governorship election in the state, Mamah said: “Nigeria has moved from the time when winning elections was all about structures.

“Peter Obi of the Labour Party has brought a new dimension to politics in Nigeria. So, what the people are looking out for is credible alternatives and not their political platforms.

“I don’t know how other political parties would go about it now that nomination is over, but that is our demand.”