Don't vote for party or candidate without plans to include women in govt - NCWS tells women

Ayobami Ife 

Women in Ogun State have threatened never to cast their votes for political parties and candidates in the forthcoming elections if they have no practicable plans to appoint women into the cabinet and other areas of governance in 2019.

The women said they would no longer accept the status of singing the praises of politicians and entertaining them with dances during electioneering campaigns, adding that the time has now come for Ogun and Nigerian women to be given better roles in  government, where they would better contribute their quota towards the development of the state and the nation. 

Speaking under the aegis of 

the state chapter of the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), the body declared that only political parties and candidates without clear - cut agenda to include women in the cabinet would not earn their votes in 2019.

The NCWS President in Ogun, Chief Mrs. Aishat Bola Adeyiga, told journalists  in Abeokuta, the state capital, that political parties that only see women as objects of singing and dancing troupe at electioneering campaign venues should not expect the women's votes for them in 2019.

Adeyiga decried a situation where  women are being used by men to climb to elective offices only to be dumped after securing electoral victory.

She said women must be rewarded with appointments into government and integrated into governance process.

According to her, coopting women into governance is not a favour where such obtains as in developed nations, but it is an avenue for the women to contribute their quotas to the development of the society.

 

Adeyiga who made this known 

at the second anniversary of NCWS in Abeokuta, said the nation's politicians should know that the era of using women to sing, dance at political rallies without inclusion in governance is past.

"We  come out in our millions to vote for them without being adequately rewarded or allowed to be part of governance process.

"Our women are  educated, capable and have what it takes to contribute to the greatness of this country, after all, women over time have been proved to be best managers of resources. Political parties that will not recognise our importance as 2019 general elections draw closer will not be given our votes," she said.

The President also counseled women to always monitor their children and wards  lest unscrupulous elements recruit them as political thugs for the 2019 elections.

Meanwhile, women have also been advised  to guard their homes jealously and protect it against divorce and its devastating effects on children.

Mrs Folashade Adedeji who gave this advice  while delivering a public lecture on the "Effect of Divorce on Women and Girl Child" during the NCWS anniversary, identified lack of parental care for the children, depression, children developing wrong attitudes, low self esteem, vicious cycles of broken homes as some of the effects of divorce.

Mrs Adedeji who was represented at the event by Mrs Kemi Olusanya, advised  women to seek expert  counsel concerning marital challenges,  hold unto God and be ready to persevere to weather difficult times instead of  abandoning their homes or yielding to divorce.