With the call that women should be given reserved seats in the National Assembly, Kayode Fakuyi, an APC senatorial aspirant, has disclosed that the move can be achieved with the support of the First Lady of Nigeria, Oluremi Tinubu.

Fakuyi emphasised that the bill is achievable with the full backing and sincere involvement of the President’s wife as well as the support of critical stakeholders in the country.

The aspirant, who is seeking to replace Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, who was recently nominated by President Bola Tinubu as an ambassador designate, emphasised that the president’s wife can comfortably secure no fewer than 144 seats for women in both chambers of the National Assembly in 2027.

Fakuyi, who declared support for the bill, advised that there must be strategic planning for it not to suffer a similar fate to previous pro-women bills and maintained that there must be a proper diagnosis as well as an analysis of the failure of such bills in the past.

He stressed that with the huge population of women in the country as well as their contributions to the development of Nigeria, they deserve reserved seats at the National Assembly.

With Fakuyi urging the wife of the President to build a broad-based consensus arrangement, he advised that the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), major political parties, through their national chairmen, and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) should be involved by bringing them on board to achieve the target.

He stated that if some political parties have been able to present candidates who won elections while in prison, they should seamlessly do it for the women who are patriotic, committed, and qualified to serve.
“By 2027, women can have at least 144 seats in the National Assembly. You know each state has 3 senators and at least 9 members of the House of Representatives.
“That is 4 female lawmakers out of 12 lawmakers per state. This permutation will produce at least 36 female senators out of 109 senators and 108 female HOR members out of 360.”