By Emmanuel Oloniruha

A former Kwara State Commissioner for Solid Minerals, Hon. Adenike Afolabi-Oshatimehin, says the 2023 general elections will produce more female representations in governance and the Nigeria political space.

Afolabi-Oshatimehin, who is an aspirant for the House of Representatives seat for Ifelodun/Offa/Oyun Federal Constituency, Kwara State, on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), stated this shortly after submitting her nomination and expression of interest forms in Abuja on Friday.

Afolabi-Oshatimehin, speaking with newsmen, said that with the efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari and the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, she believes more female candidates would emerge and eventually win more elective offices across the country in the 2023 general elections.

“When we talk about the political space, so far it has been the men’s world and it looks toxic, but as a party, the APC has made it easy for women.

“We should thank the president government of the APC, especially the President and all the governors that we have in the states.

“They have been able to identify some women considering the fact that a lot of women have been put in positions and they have been able to demonstrate their capacity. I will say that this time around it is going to be different from what it used to be.

“Before now, we had just 11 House of Representatives members, we have two deputy governors, we have four senators. I think that is low compared to the total number of women in this country.

“I believe come 2023, considering all that our leaders are doing, from the President to the governors of our various states, the scenario is definitely going to change and a number of our women aspirants will emerge winners,” Afolabi-Oshotimehn said.

She also acknowledged the major role played by Gov. Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State on women inclusion in governance, saying he has done wonderfully well.

“In his first tenure when we had the first set of commissioners, we had 36.6 per cent, I don’t think any state had done that,” adding that Kwara has surpassed the 35 per cent affirmative action, Kwara was the first to pass it into law.”

“I understand there are a lot of lobby groups around and if you look at the population of those that actually vote, you will know that the women cannot actually be waived aside because in terms of votes we have a high percentage.

“We also have the brain, we have the intellectual capacity, and we are creators.

“With all these and with the support of our leaders, I think we are going places and Nigeria will be a better place for it.”

The former Commissioner for Agriculture and Commissioner for Youth Development, also expressed the belief that she would emerged as APC candidate for her constituency.

“I am prepared for the party primary because I have always been a grassroots person since I joined governance.”

Afolabi-Oshotimehin added that since she came on board, she had been impacting positively on lives, especially women, through various projects, while also supporting the party.

“We have impacted a lot of lives. My name is not strange, my name is not new out there. We have had lots of projects. I have encouraged women in various capacity,” she said. (NAN)

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