How we were intimidated, threatened during 2019 elections – Female candidates

Some female candidates in the just-concluded 2019 general elections have described how they were threatened, harassed and subjected to other inhumane acts by fellow politicians during the exercise.

They spoke at the weekend in Abuja at a “Strategy Meeting on Experiment Sharing of female candidates in the 2019 General Elections”, organised by the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) aimed at improving women participation in politics and governance.

A senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo state and former Leaders of the House of Representatives, Mrs Mulikat Akande Adeola, said that women believed in doing what was right.

Akande, who sought to represent Oyo Central Senatorial district during the election, said that she was prepared and went through the primary elections of her party successfully.

“During the general elections, people were ready to do anything. We saw violence, militarization, voter-inducement and lots more. I was the preferred candidate and my constituents were still in shock that I was not declared winner,” she said.

Also, Mrs. Christina Ude, who contested for the House of Representatives to represent Orlu/Oru East/ Orsu Federal Constituency of Imo State, said she was threatened days to the election.

“Somebody called me and threatened to bring thugs to make sure my votes do not count if I do not bring a certain amount of money. The fellow eventually carried out the threat as my agents were threatened and in some cases, they were chased away,” Ude said.

She said the people got the leaders they deserved and should not complain of poor leadership if they took money at the polls or were induced with other material wealth.

On her part, Mrs. Phina Kanu who contested for Abia State House of Assembly on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said that she was physically intimidated during the poll.

According to her, it was not easy to show interest in politics as a woman, saying her experience at the poll was horrible, so much that she and her supporters had to run for their lives from their violent opponents.

She said, “As women and mothers, we will not want to do things our children will not be proud of. I would urge women to venture into politics on time from secondary school level through the university.

The Chief Executive Officer of NWTF, Mrs Mufilat Fijabi, said the meeting was to beam searchlights on the experiences women had in the general elections and specifically those of candidates.

According to her, the forum was also about improving the performance of Nigeria’s democracy when it came to women participation in politics.

She said that women representation in elective offices had continued to decline since 2007, adding that with the 2019 elections results, Nigeria had gone lower in the ranking of nations with women representation, hence the need to salvage the situation.