Women leaders in the North Central ,who are members of the leading opposition party, the PDP, gathered at the Arca Santa Event Centre, Ilorin on Wednesday for an event aimed at generating and building support for the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
The programme called PDP North Central Zonal Women’s Summit , had as its theme ‘Political Marketing and Delivery: The Role Of Women In The 2023 And Future General Elections’ , and it had in attendance participants from Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kwara and Niger states and Abuja. The North Central PDP exco members also attended the event.
The programme was jointly organized by the North Central PDP and Hajia Rukayya Atiku, wife of the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar through her Princess Rukayya Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organization For Atiku 2023, PRACO.
As expected , it was a chorus of voices condemning and blaming the APC government for the nation’s woes.
PDP Woman Leader , North Central, Hajia Nana Suleiman, in her welcome address, noted that she found it fulfilling to have female political bigwigs as attendees of the summit calling this ‘a great of achievement as a zonal leader’.
She urged women in the North Central to vote for Atiku next year noting that being an entrepreneur, he has what it takes to return Nigeria back to good old days .
PDP National Vice Chairman, North Central , Theophilus Dakas Shan, who called women the backbone of the party, lamented the worsening security situation in the country saying ‘nowhere is safe’ anymore and adding that ‘the time has come to change the narrative’.
Shan added that PDP ‘is on a rescue mission’ promising that Atiku will rebuild Nigeria if elected as president.
‘Why Atiku ? He has been around and he has the needed experience when it comes to the art of governance , he is passionate and committed to the development of the country . No room for trying a novice this time around, we are in need of a leader that will lead the country out of its challenges, he is a creator of wealth , he will create opportunity for businesses to thrive’ he said.
Former First Lady of Niger state, Hajia Zainab Kure , who described women as promise keepers , asserted that any political party that doesn’t enjoy the support of the North Central cannot win in the presidential election while submitting that the ruling APC has no achievements to present as campaign points.
Former PDP National Woman Leader , Hajia Mariya Umar Waziri said the summit was a conscious efforts of PDP women in the North Central towards actualization of Atiku’s 2023 presidential project.
Also speaking , Kwara state PDP Chairman, Hon Babatunde Mohammed said the party though had what he called ‘ temporary setback’ in 2019 , PDP will according to him regain control of the state in 2023.
He said Nigerians have been made to face economic hardships citing rising food prices.
He urged Kwarans to ensure that PDP wins in all the 193 wards in the state in the upcoming general election.
Kwara state PDP gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Shuaib Abdulahi Yaman , who commended the organizers for coming up with such a programme , said PDP will win gubernatorial elections in all the thirty six states, win the presidential election and also control a majority in the national assembly.
While promising that his administration would be women- friendly , he however noted there would be a caveat.
‘ We would not mind if it is an all- female cabinet , the difference is that we will demand for competence , capacity and ability. We will not appoint corps member, we will look for women who can stand head and shoulders above men and we will make them partners in our administration’ he said.
Wife of former Senate President, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, who will be attending her first political gathering in Kwara state since 2019 , was the cynosure of all eyes at the event.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned she also released bottled up emotions and hit out at the ruling APC at the event.
She thanked the people of the state for supporting the PDP saying ‘it is not easy to stay with a party that is not in power’ while noting that what exists between the Kwara state people and the Saraki family is ‘bond of love’ hence their decision to sustain it.
Noting that she served as First Lady while in her 30s , Toyin condemned leaders of the ruling APC, who she called ‘onijibitis’ for alleging that her husband’s administration did nothing in Kwara state.
She listed projects built by the Saraki administration to include the Ganmo power sub-station, Government House, Banquet Hall , Kwara state University and others noting that all the facilities are though being used by the current administration but will readily claim that her husband did nothing during his governorship.
She also said as a First Lady, she introduced the Toyin Saraki Secondary School Scrabble Tournament, an initiative to improve the literacy and numeracy ability of high school students in the state while adding that nurses are still in over 70 hospitals in the state as healthcare providers under her foundation and already trained over 62, 000 health workers .
She said her husband had already seen what awaited Nigerians under the APC administration and decided to leave but however got persecuted for doing this.
Mrs. Toyin Saraki urged women in the North Central to vote for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the upcoming presidential election while also asking Kwara state women to vote for Alhaji Shuaib Yaman in the 2023 guber election submitting that things will change for the better under him.
Giving her speech, wife of the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Mrs. Rukayat , said her husband is committed to changing the face of Nigeria and putting the country back on the right path.
Atiku, she added, is committed to bettering the lives of all Nigerians , promising that if elected as president, ‘children will get the education that they deserve, there will be no safety fears , jobs will be provided for the young people while efforts will be made to lift Nigerians out of poverty’.
‘Don’t listen to their lies, they lied for eight years, secure your future by voting for PDP together as one we can make it work’ she added.
In her keynote speech, Professor Adishetu Abdulkadir, who spoke on ‘Maximization of Demographic Capacity’ , said with the 50/ 50 per cent population ratio, it is lamentable that women still have less than 10 per cent when it comes to representation in government despite having what it takes to serve the people, while ‘a country like Rwanda has 61 per cent’ , this , she opined, may be responsible for ‘our backwardness’
Princess Bolanle Ogundiran , whose keynote topic was ‘Mobilization and Sensitization of Electorates’ , urged women to stand by their vote and ensure that all they must have done at the polling unit on the Election Day gets on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) before leaving there while stating the need to vote properly to avoid having such a vote declared as invalid- Team@orientactualmags.com
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