Hon Irene Awunah Ikyegh is the Coordinator, Women in Politics Forum (WIPF), Benue state. She is also the Chairperson, League of Women Voters in the state. In this interview with ENE OSHABA she speaks on Benue politics, 2023 general elections as it affects the women, among other issues.
The 2023 general elections are almost here. How would you assess politics in Benue state especially as it concerns women participation?
Benue is the North-central and any political party or candidate that wants to capture North-central starts from Benue. So, the political environment is very interesting.
Heading towards 2023 elections, the two major parties have lots of aspirants like people, some of who are working with the Governor of Benue state, Samuel Ortom, in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); while in the All Progressives Congress (APC) we have some prominent Nigerians. That notwithstanding the two political parties threw up the most unassumed people.
For the PDP, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Titus Ubah, who most people did not expect would emerge, emerged following consensus within the party; while in the APC where the primary election was held, according to them through the “Option A” formula, Rev. Fr. Hycinth Illiya emerged.
You know that in the past a Catholic priest had won the governorship election in Benue state, that is the late Rev. Fr. Moses Adasu and there were lots of things he achieved during his reign. For instance, he established Benue State University.
There are the Benue populace who believe that a priest has done it in the past and this time around another would do it. Thats the dynamics playing out but unfortunately for him, his party at the national level has a Muslim/Muslim ticket, so the Benue people are waiting to see how he is going to market a Muslim/Muslim ticket to the people who are mostly Christians. He is also the coordinator of the APC Presidential Campaign Team in Benue state.
Also, some people left the two major political parties to join smaller parties and they got tickets to run for office on the platform of these parties. For instance, the Labour Party governorship candidate, Hon. Herman Hembe, who is a member of the House of Representatives, representing Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency, was previously in the PDP then he joined the APC. Now, he is in the Labour Party.
There has been a lot of cross carpeting going on that one cannot downplay the internal political wranglings. The PDP had their fair share after the Speaker emerged as governorship candidate but it appears they have been able to manage the situation and put their house in order without anybody going to court. However, I can’t say that for the APC because four of the aspirants are in court challenging the emergence of Fr Illiya as the party’s flag bearer.
With all of these, my concern is that the two major political parties did not deem it fit to consider a woman to be their deputy, however, other smaller parties have made women their running mates. women are not being consulted and that’s a major gap and unfortunately for them the women in the political environment are not just idling away the way they used to. They are now in well structured platforms and groups, they take decisions and work with those decisions. Instances of These groups include WIPF, League of Women Voters and lots of others who work with what they agree on and all of them are voters.
So, if women are not being consulted as political stakeholders, I wonder what they want to do. The elections are here and basically people are still consulting. Probably, when the campaign starts proper they will identify the strength of female voters and then consult the women.
While analysing Benue political terrain you didn’t mention any woman. Does it mean Benue women have or been participating in politics?
No, Benue women have always been there trying to make their mark in the political environment and I think that in 1999 Benue was the first state to have a woman who was the secretary of a party, that is Hon. Mrs. Rebecca Apezan. She was the secretary of the PDP and her party won the governorship in 1999,which was very remarkable.
She was also a member of the House of Representative in 1992 during the defunct SDP and NRC elections.In 1999 general elections Benue state got the first female Speaker of parliament in person of Chief Mrs. Margareth Ichen. She is a BOT member of the PDP.
So, basically Benue state has women who have made their marks in the political environment.
We also have the likes of Hon Dorothy Mato, Rt. Hon. Ngunan Adingi, these women have made remarkable impact at the House of Assembly and have always contested to represent their various constituencies at the National Assembly.
I am proud to say that Hon. Ngunan Adingi is on the ballot, on the platform of SDP, to represent Buruku Federal Constituency at the National Assembly. I think Benue women have made their marks and the only gaps are being identified.
What we have been trying to work around is to have mentorship for younger women who have the capacity, interest, and what it takes to engage politically, to come around. We have been doing this through the WIPF and Nigeria League of Voters platforms.
You know that Benue state has the first Young Women In Politics Academy and we graduated over 60 young girls who are actively engaging in the political space and some of them are candidates in the forthcoming elections.
Some women got to the limelight through smaller political parties, didn’t the women in Benue consider this strategy?
Yes, there are a lot of women who were aspiring to political offices but were not given the opportunity in the two major political parties so they got their nominations from other platforms.
I am impressed with the number of women on the ballot. We have 13 on the ballot for Senate and House of Representatives. It’s impressive. I don’t think we have ever had that in Benue state. I believe that if they work hard they will win the positions.
What is WIPF doing to ensure these women win?
We are training them to build their capacities on electioneering and how to raise funds because candidates need money for campaigns and WIPF is training them and this will help build their capacities to ensure they can go into the field and engage politically.
Do Benue women have demands for candidates just like it’s done at the national levels as campaigns begin?
We have a court ruling on 35% Affirmative Action and that ruling is expected to be implemented across the board. So, I expect to hear candidates tell us deliberate measures and actions they are putting in place to ensure that they implement the 35% Affirmative Action both at the level of constituting a government that is heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs ) as commissioners, executives and also for several other standing committees that the state will require. This will give women succour because we are still aching and wailing from the pains and the anger of the five Gender Bills that were thrown out.
Nigerian women are not in the best state of mind for anybody to come and start campaigning without telling them exactly how they are going to benefit. So, I am just giving an expo to whoever is going to win. If you tell women you will ensure the implementation of the 35% Affirmative Action across board then you will get their votes but if you come and tell them that women will be considered as they always say in a vague manner that they never implement.
However, I want to commend Governor Samuel Ortom for running an inclusive government where women are given opportunities. The 1st Lady has done a wonderful job. First and foremost she constituted a Women Stakeholders Forum, it is like the stakeholders forum the party has but she saw that the women were not well represented in that structure and so she constituted Women Stakeholders Forum in the PDP and that forum has been instrumental in helping her to push and achieve some of these goals.
In the first tenure she had seven local governments where women were chairpersons and this time around there are nine.
Talk about female advisers, commissioners and it has never been like this before, now we have over 60 women who have been either appointed or elected within these seven years of the Ortom-led administration.
Are there visible achievements of these women that could encourage voters to elect more women in Benue state?
I would say our political party is women friendly and we do all the best to see that we support women, and encourage them. We have not able to harness all the achievements of the women who have had political appointments in Benue but I will say that a lot of them have done well in their various constituencies but the politicians will know if there is impact when election comes because most of them worked with the people at the grassroots, the chairpersons and commissioners, special assistants. So, if they are not in touch with the
people it is during elections that you will know, that is when you will know the impact because it gives them political relevance where they come from and so they become core decision makers in their constituencies.
What’s your take on the list of candidates for the presidential and National Assembly elections released by INEC?
INEC gave out what political parties gave them as their candidates, however, there are few omissions which INEC has also acknowledged and they are doing something about it . Women are not visible. The numbers are disheartening. We expected the statistics to go up a little bit based on the sensitisation and awareness that has been created. We will still keep up the work and we won’t stop.
However, the internal democracy within the parties was what made lots of women shy away because a lot of women were flushed out during the primaries based on consensus, irrespective of the fact that they were more competent. Of course the statutory delegates did not get votes based on obvious omission in the Electoral Act.
So, it was the adhoc delegates who were also nominated by already political stakeholders , who are the same people we have been crying for that have not shown visible support for women.
We can see from the case of a political party that a woman got the ticket for the Senate and the man is trying to get taken from her and the political party is not even defending her. However, women will continue to work hard, we will continue to collate our strength, mobilise our capacities, and pull resources together.
Starting from the ward level I keep saying there are women with passion and strength at that level who mobilise themselves and form formidable movements and from these movements we will be able to galvanise our support and resources to see that if 2023 does not give us the desired results 2027 should.
How would you assess the National Gender Policy?
The intent of the National Gender Policy is good and laudable, however, it has not achieved its aim but its work in progress.
The gender policy is a guide and INEC cannot insist that the political parties should file a certain percentage of women, they cant. It is going to be a legislative thing and that was one of the bills that was sent to the National Assembly that was thrown out.
It has to grow through legislative processes. It was done in Rwanda and we can see that they have the highest number of women in the legislature in Africa.
We are still going back to those laws, we want to insist that women are given special seats and also make sure that all political parties give a number of women representatives.
Some people argue that why don’t we allow women to go out there and struggle for the seats just like the men but we all know all the baggage women carry on their shoulders yet have to fight for the same field with men who have little or no issues; they have all the money, all the support because the environment is already dominated by men who have over time institutionalised themselves politically and economically.
What’s your advice to Nigerians concerning the forthcoming elections considering that there are few female candidates?
Basically, Nigerians have not been through the best of times and they know that it is when a woman comes onboard that there is solace anytime there is pain and anger. So, they should open their eyes and vote wisely for competent women who will rewrite history and quench their hunger. The naira is devalued by the day, the economy is on oxygen and it is only a woman that can salvage the situation because women rebuild and mend things that are broken. So, I think this is just the right time to give women the chance.
