From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
A Pan-African non-partisan organisation advancing gender-inclusive democracy, ElectHER, has urged candidates contesting the November 8 governorship election in Anambra State to engage in issue-based campaigns and shape their message around citizens’ real concerns, such as security, jobs, and healthcare.
ElectHER CEO, Ibijoke Faborode, at a two-day stakeholder engagement roundtable, held at Radisson Onyx Hotel, in Awka, said that discussing critical issues of such nature would be in the best interest of Ndi Anambra.
She also made a case for women in politics, urging the electorate and, indeed, the people of the state to give them more support, so they could have more representation in government.
Faborode, who noted that the state has a legacy of women’s political visibility, from Dame Virginia Etiaba’s tenure as Nigeria’s first female governor to consistently high number of female legislators, however, lamented that a pre-assessment report by ElectHER highlights a striking contrast.
“Despite Anambra’s 5.6 million residents and 5,720 polling units, and with women making up 58 per cent of new voter registrants, they currently occupy only 0.6 per cent of elected positions”, she disclosed.
Faborode described this as a glaring gap between voter strength and representation, one which she said must be urgently closed.
“We cannot allow insecurity and systemic exclusion to silence women in a state where they form such a significant share of the electorate,” she argued.
On her part, ElectHER’s Democracy and Governance Programs Lead, Zigwai Tagwai, noted that collaborative action by INEC, political parties, the media, and security actors would be key in restoring trust and boosting turnout.
Civil society groups, including the Development for Community Democracy Advocacy Initiative (DECODA), the Centre for Development and Empowerment of Knowledge (CEDEK), and the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) network, stressed that misinformation, insecurity and weak party commitments remain key barriers to women’s participation in politics.
During a visit to the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the commission pledged to expand ad hoc staff recruitment beyond 26,000 and improve polling unit management.
Also, civil society organisations committed to voter mobilisation and citizen hotlines, while media representatives vowed to strengthen ethical reporting.
Security agencies, on their part, agreed to preventive deployments at flashpoints and to adopt gender-sensitive protection measures.
The engagement was convened with support from the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) programme, which partners with civil societies to deepen electoral integrity and inclusion.
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