Ondo South senatorial aspirant under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), Ogbeni Kayode Fakuyi has said the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu can use her influence to help secure at least 144 seats for women in both chambers of the National Assembly by 2027.
Fakuyi is seeking to replace Senator Jimoh Ibrahim who was recently nominated by President Bola Tinubu as an ambassador.
While commenting on the Reserved Seats for Women Bill, Fakuyi declared support for the bill but warned the bill could fail because similar pro-women bills have failed before due to underlying factors.
“If you look at the population of women in Nigeria and their contributions, they really deserve it.”
“I read the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu is now spearheading the campaign. That is intentional leadership. I commend her.”
“I will support the bill. I will even canvass for it. I hope it will scale through but it will be very difficult. Similar pro women bills failed in the 9th National Assembly. The bills failed when it was too late to re-present them. Very unfortunate.”
“We need to diagnose why such pro-women bills failed in the past. There are many underlying factors.”
“Let me tell you. I have many practical ideas on how women can get more seats in the National Assembly. At least 144 women by 2027. The First Lady can use her goodwill and network.”
“She can build a broad based consensus arrangement. Get all major political parties through their national chairmen to the table. Bring Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) on board. Get the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on board.”
“Hold meeting, appeal to their conscience, work out the framework and convince these stakeholders to sign a pact that will enable all political parties to present at least 1 female senator and 3 female HOR members per state.”
“You know each state has 3 senators and at least 9 members of 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. By 2027, women can have at least 144 seats in the National Assembly.”
“In this country, political parties have presented candidates who were in prison, EFCC detention and even in hospital. Yet, they won election into the National Assembly. If the political parties can do it for people in prison, they should do it for our women who are patriotic, committed, qualified and ready to serve the nation.” he noted.
