CHIDIMMA UCHEGBU, Abuja
A group of women and Civil Society Organisations have called on more women’s representation ahead of 2027 elections.
The Co- Founder of Voice of Women, Toun Okewenale, disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja, saying that women aspirants across the country were pressured to withdraw in favour of consensus candidates, while others faced disqualification during screening processes.
According to her, despite repeated promises by President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to promote women’s inclusion in governance, results from ongoing party primaries showed that many female aspirants were being sidelined.
“The conduct of the All Progressives Congress House of Representatives primaries had exposed a wide gap between public commitments and political reality,” she stated.
She said only a few states, including Katsina, Edo, Imo, Ogun, Abia and Benue, had produced female candidates through the primaries so far.
“The disqualification of Rivers West Senator and former deputy governor, Epalibu Banigo, by the APC Senatorial Screening Committee as an example of the challenges confronting women in politics.”
According to her, Banigo is one of the only four serving female senators in the 10th National Assembly.
She also referenced the APC primaries in Imo State, where the adoption of the Option A4 voting system reportedly led to the defeat of ranking lawmakers, including Chairperson of the House Committee on Tertiary Education, Miriam Onuoha.
Sonaiya urged other political parties yet to conduct their primaries, including the Labour Party, ADC, SDP, NDC and AA, to ensure greater inclusion of women in their candidate selection processes.
“For Labour Party, ADC, SDP, NDC and AA, the primaries are still ahead, this is your window to turn commitments into candidates,” she said.
President of the League of Women Voters of Nigeria, Irene Awunah Ikyegh, said political will should not be measured by speeches but by the number of women who eventually emerged as candidates.
She urged parties to remove barriers that prevent women from scaling screening and selection stages.
Ikyegh argued that increasing women’s participation would expand voter mobilisation, improve party credibility and strengthen attention to issues such as healthcare, education and grassroots development.
Also speaking, President of the Women in Politics Forum, Ebere Ifendu, called on political parties to publish clear criteria for candidate selection and disclose gender statistics of aspirants at every stage of the primaries.
She said Nigerians are watching to see whether parties would translate promises of inclusion into actual candidacies ahead of the 2027 elections.
The groups vowed to continue monitoring the level of women’s inclusion throughout the election cycle and make their findings public.
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