LG polls: Obaseki’s wife leads protest, seeks more roles for women

The wife of Edo State governor, Betsy Obaseki, has led women leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state to the party’s secretariat, to protest alleged marginalisation of women in elective positions.

Prominent women in the protest included wife of the deputy governor, Maryam Shaibu; Josephine Anenih, a former Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development; Esther Uduehi, PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) member; and elected female House of Assembly members from across the 18 LGAs.

Addressing the state’s PDP Chairman, Tony Azeigbemi, Mrs Obaseki said the protest was to ensure that women were given more roles to play in politics and governance in the state ahead of the local government elections.

While lamenting that women had been abandoned after contributing to the party’s victory in the last House of Assembly elections, she said, “I am appealing to the leadership of the party to give more chairmanship, vice-chairmanship and councillorship, supervisory councillorship slots to women in the forthcoming local government elections.

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“Though the leadership of the party acknowledged the role the women played during the 2020 governorship election in the state by ensuring that Governor Obaseki won his second term, they were not compensated.”

Responding, Aziegbemi said, “We have two women candidates in the chairmanship position in the coming local government elections. We have about 30 women candidates in the councillorship elections. What we didn’t do at the chairmanship level would be done at the vice-chairmanship level.”