Female Lawmakers Demand VP Seat

Posted by Tony Okechukwu

Women politicians under the auspices of the Conference of Nigerian Female Parliamentarians (CONFEPA) have called for the position of the vice president to be reserved for women in subsequent elections in the country. The women made the appeal yesterday when they visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja. CONFEPA chairperson, Hon Elizabeth Ativie, who led a delegation composed of female lawmakers from the nation’s 36 states, told the president that Nigerian women politicians were being marginalised by their male counterparts. According to her, the country has had only one female principal officer in each of the two chambers of the National Assembly since the return of democracy in 1999. She appealed to Buhari to use his good offices to compel states to allow more women into elective positions. “Whenever the president is a man, the vice president should be a woman. For every three senatorial seats in the states, one should be a woman. Where there are nine House of Reps members, the men should take six and leave three for women,” she said. In his response, President Buhari jokingly said:  “It is a pity that the Vice President is not here, but I am sure the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will brief him that his position is threatened. It is only the vice president who is threatened, and if we win the next election, he may lose his position.” The president, however, appreciated the support he received from women in the four times he ran for president, and recalled reports he received during elections in which women in labour queued to vote for him. Source: leadership.ng