2023: Group calls for alliances among female candidates
By Mosunmola Ayobami, Kwara
Female candidates vying for various positions in the forthcoming general elections have been urged to form alliances among themselves to ensure their electoral success.
To achieve this, the Women Advocate Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) held a two-day coaching for about 45 of such women candidates in Kogi and Kwara states
WARDC founder, Dr Abiola Afolabi said women politicians lacked requisite information on election matters, adding that their coming together would be an advantage for winning at the polls.
The two-day mentorship program, she said, was supported by Unwomen and Canadian government to look at coaching and mentoring women candidates.
“These are candidates that are on INEC list, and are running for the coming elections. We have among them women who are running for gubernatorial elections, House of Assembly and House of Representatives, so they are being brought together to come and discuss with themselves to look at how they can build alliance among themselves to see how we can get more women to win elections. It’s a process of training, mentoring and coaching,” Afolabi said.
According to her, experts would teach the women about issues they need to know before, during and after elections as well as the provisions pf the new Electoral Acts.
“We decided to train women candidates for the coming election. During the 2019 elections, women who were elected were about 5%. We observed through the assessment that was done that women don’t really have a lot of information about the process of electioneering and the fact that they put themselves out may not be enough to win an election because we know there are a lot of other things affecting elections. There are issues of godfathers, violence and money. So, this is what we can give if we cannot give money; we let them know they can also sell themselves,” she said.
Afolabi disclosed that there are over 50 women who are on INEC list in both Kogi and Kwara states.
