As Nigeria prepares for the poll in the next couple of days, the only female presidential candidate in the forthcoming general elections, Princess Chichi Ojei has raised alarm over plot by her party Allied Peoples Movement, to ease her out from the race.
Ojei raised the alarm in a statement on Thursday adding that the plot came to the notice of her campaign council that the National Executive Council members of the APM have connived because of greed to truncate the chances of producing the first female president of Nigeria
“As the only female presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections under the platform of Allied Peoples Movement (APM), I hereby call my fellow women and indeed all well-meaning Nigerians to rescue the country from intimidation, harassment and further alienation of the female gender in Nigeria´s political development,” she said
Ojei noted that her emergence as the only female presidential candidate in the race was one that was warmly received by many Nigerians from across the board because they believe it has created room for gender inclusion.
“My emergence as the only female presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential race is one that was warmly received by many Nigerians from across the board because they believe it has created room for gender inclusion in the forthcoming presidential elections as women are the most marginalized demography of electorates.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that 93,469,008 registered voters, comprising 49,054,162 males and 44,414,846 females are eligible to vote in this year’s general elections. A breakdown of the figure showed that the males constitute 52.5 per cent, while the females make up 47.5 per cent of the total figure,” Ojei said.
She pointed out that as the only female presidential candidate in the race, the fate and chances of almost 45 million women who make up a large percentage of the electorate is currently being threatened. “Based on my commitment, character and decision to win this presidential elections, it has come to the notice of my campaign council that the National executive council (NEC) members of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) have connived because of greed to truncate the chances of producing the first female president of Nigeria and I hereby distance myself from this unscrupulous and despicable endorsement.
“The future is female. I consider this a huge setback for Nigerian women and an insult on my teeming supporters and party faithful, seeing that the only presidential candidate is about to be taken out of the league by a platform that initially believed in her vision, capacity and capability to set the country on a steady path of continuous positive transformation.
“I hereby call on the entire women of Nigeria, both young and old, the youth whom we also represent in great measure, fellow Nigerians, and the international community to rise up in defense of our collective humanity, and for the sake of equity, fairness and justice to stop the party leadership from embarking on such shameful and disappointing act,” Ojei stressed.
