Osinbajo, Obasanjo, Others, Urge Women to Participate in Politics

By David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

Wife of the Vice President, Dolapo Osinbajo, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s wife, Tola, and former Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Aisha Alhassan have called on Nigerian women to rise up and participate in partisan politics as a way of choosing the best for their children.

The women who were in Anambra for the 2018 Anambra mothers summit said the time for women to take the lead in politics was now.

Mrs. Osinbajo who addressed Anambra women during the summit said women made lots of sacrifices to keep their homes, and if given the opportunity to lead, would exhibit the same passion in ensuring the welfare of all as she does in her family.

She said: We (women) sacrifice all for others, we eat last in the family, we sleep last, we sort out everyone before we think about ourselves. Women think others first, if given opportunity to lead, she will do same.

We suffer for our family and we cannot let others control their lives. Politicians are the ones who control our lives, so we must all get into politics so that we can choose our own people to control our lives

The time has come for us to find our own, we must choose the right people to lead us, it must not be any woman but the very best of us. We must choose the best woman to entrust the lives of our people in their hands, she said.

Mrs. Tola Obasanjo while delivering her own address called on women to brace up and support each other for elective positions as they remain the pillars of politics in the country.

On her part, Alhassan expressed regret that anytime women came out for elective position, she was blackmailed with tags that were not befitting of the noble role she plays.

She said: It is only women that would wake up very early in the morning and start catering for the family and would also go to work and return again to take care of everyone.

We are the reason our families are working well, so why is it that when we come out for elective position so that we can make things work even better in the larger society, people begin to say that we are women and as such cannot do it. Go and look at all the countries of the world where women are the presidents and see how well things are working in those countries. We must unite and support ourselves now, she said.

Wife of Anambra State Governor, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano, wife of the governor of Enugu State, Mrs. Ugochi Ugwuanyi, commissioner for women affairs Anambra State, Mrs. Ndidi Mezue and other speakers also reinforced the same position.

Mrs. Obiano said that the summit was an annual

event, which preceded the August women's meeting

and was usually an occasion for women to take a

stand on issues that could better womanhood in the

state.

She said: "Whatever we discuss here is what these

women take home to the rural women, and that

constitutes their discussion during their August

meeting in their various local government areas or

their communities."

Obiano thanked the wife of the vice president for the

gift of 200 bags of rice, 100 wrappers, 100 sets plate