Ahead of next year’s general election, the ruling All Progressives Congress APC has granted a financial waiver to all female aspirants on its platform, expressing greater commitment to gender mainstreaming.

The landmark decision puts to end the frustration often faced by female aspirants, most of who found it difficult to cough out the required 50 per cent of nominations fees paid by their male counterparts.

National Woman Leader of the party, Dr Beta Edu who disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja, said the decision was approved by Senator Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee NWC.

She said; “I have the blessings of the chairman to announce to Nigerian women that APC has provided a platform for them to run.

“The chairman promised to mainstream women, to give us a seat at the table, to give us a potent voice to contribute our quota to national development. President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife have led the way in mainstreaming women. The party has gone ahead to approve that all woman will be running with free nomination forms.

“The party has thrown the ball to our court. Before now we had women saying they could not afford the form. Now you have been given the highest platform with the greatest chance of emerging as winners of elections because you will be running on the ticket of a ruling party that has performed. Now the ball is in your court. Women should stand up and contest. We must be actively involved in the processes leading to the 2023 general election. We must register as voters and go door to door to remind women and others to register,” the party stated.

Meanwhile, a presidential aspirant in the APC, Mr Ihechukwu Dallas Chima has said after 23 years of the current democratic experience, Nigerians now need a leader with creative intelligence in the face of dwindling global economic fortunes.

Chima gave the charge on Thursday at the launch of an N6 billion campaign fund to support his aspiration.

Chima while speaking at the event Abuja said his decision to contest the presidency was to achieve a purpose that would define the existence of the country.

He stressed that since the return of democracy in 1999, leaders who aspire to the office of the president had always been at the forefront of selling their political resumes, yet they’ve not been able to solve Nigeria’s developmental and security challenges.

Chima said: “This is 2022, 23 years of uninterrupted democracy, what results have been achieved by persons with political experience or political office resume. Leaders with political experience are not dynamic, they recycle teams because of their lack of dynamism, they rely on people with archaic knowledge to solve new but complex problems.

“Nigerians must come to the understanding that the challenges we face as a nation are beyond political experience or political office resume. All those presidential aspirants who brandish their political office resume to the press to gag the Nigerian electorate and featherweight presidential aspirants…will be overwhelmed by the challenges of this country. They can’t take the heat because they don’t have the mental resources to be dynamic in leadership,” Chima said.

The presidential hopeful said under his leadership, he would establish through an Act of Parliament National Health Sector Development Fund which he said would be funded by 3% national income, 1.5% profit before tax of private sector contribution, 2% tax of all funds to be spent on medical tourism by privileged Nigerians.

Chima noted: “It is time for Nigeria to be led by a leader with creative intelligence; the time is now. Ihechukwu Dallas Chima (IDC) Presidential Campaign Organisation inauguration is today, we have come up with a campaign budget of N6 billion to fund the entire process. We are confident that IDC will win the firth coming presidential primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC).” (Vanguard)

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