By Jude Opara, Abuja
Barely two weeks after the State Women Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) cried of alleged neglect by the party, the First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu has reached out to the women with a message that they would never be forgotten by both the federal government and the party.
Tinubu who was represented by the wife of the Vice President, Hajia Nana Shettima at a meeting with the leadership of the party on Wednesday said the contributions of the women across the country to ensure the victory of the party in the 2023 general elections will not be forgotten.
Sen. Tinubu who also made donations of bails of wrappers for the women in all the 36 states of the federation and Abuja said she hopped that it will go a long way to support those of them in fabrics business.
“Your excellency, the mother of the nation asked me to extend her greetings to everyone of you and to offer a few words of encouragement from her. I must say that I am one of the beneficiaries of her generosity, because during the crisis of Boko Haram, H E excellency was one of the first set of senators who came to my state to condole with the people of Borno state.
“With the type of support we received from her, personally each time I am discussing with her and she says ‘Hajiya you are too generous’, I always tell her that life is a learning process and I have learned from you.
“Sincerely, the little present we came with to support our APC women leaders who are into fabrics business. Probably, the quantity might not be to your expectations but I urge you to take it in good faith and to assure you that more of such programs are on the way.
“Your excellency, without flattering her excellency within the one year has crisscrossed the 36 states. She has been to the six geopolitical zones. She is someone who is eager and wants to see changes in the country.
“My appeal to all of us here is to be our sisters keepers. No matter what, let us appreciate one another. We all know it is easy to destroy but very difficult to build. To our president, I believe he is also a gender friendly person like the first lady. He has given so many opportunities to women as ministers and head of MDAs in his government”, she concluded.
Responding, the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Abdulahi Ganduje said the gesture of the First Lady is in line with the renewed hope policy of President Bola Tinubu.
Ganduje said he was not surprised to see the wife of the Vice President coming with the gifts and words of exaltations which he said will go a long way in meeting the yearnings of the women members and supporters of the party.
“Their is no doubt the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria coming up with this renewed hope initiative as part of Mr. President’s renewed hope agenda. We are not surprised seeing the second lady coming up with this very important programme.
“The population of women in Nigeria is more than the population of men. So, you can see that when it comes to election, women are more committed despite environmental hazards, be it cold, dust weather, they will stay through. But when it comes to the sharing of the success of the election it is dominated by wahala. We have to change this narrative of women participation in politics. We have begun it as a party by speaking to the Chief executives at the state level to begin to include women participation at the local government levels to interested and accepted as well.
“This programme is financial inclusiveness for women has to be encouraged because the whole problem is financial though their is element of culture and religion but with time all these will give way for full women participation.
“So, Second Lady, this is a good omen to improve the financial stand of our women. I’m happy to hear that this programme is for women who are already in fabrics business and their business is down due to the present economic challenge which is all over the world. By introducing this programme these are assets because they will increase their goods and when they sell them they will buy more wrappers to shore up their businesses”.
He advised those in charge of distributing the fabrics to ensure that it gets to all those that are supposed to get it.
