Elections: Our husbands dare not fail Nigerian women– Hajara Adeola

Wife of the vice-presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mrs. Hajara Adeola, said on Thursday that she would not be a party to a government that would fail women.

She said that the combination of Nuhu Ribadu and Fola Adeola could not afford to return to the people after their tenure with excuses of non-performance, especially towards the women.

She said, “Our husbands dare not fail Nigerians, especially the women, because we will not watch them fail. Besides, they are men who have proved their mettle in their areas of endeavour.

“For instance, that is what Adeola did with the Fate Foundation project. It was born out of his dissatisfaction with the unemployment rate in the country.

“That is why till date, about 20,000 youths have been trained to create their own jobs rather than waste away while waiting to be employed by others.”

Adeola made this remark while responding to questions from participants at the Ribadu-Adeola Women Forum held in Lagos on Thursday.

Although the wife of the presidential candidate was absent, Adeola said that they were committed to ensuring the full implementation of the National Gender Policy, the Beijing Declaration, the World Summit, the Ouagadougou Plan of Action and Millennium Development Goals in respect of women.

Adeola, who is the Chief Executive Officer, Lotus Capital, assured participants of an adequate representation of women under the ACN government if elected.

“The ACN has already demonstrated a commitment to empowering women as almost all our sitting governors and candidates have female deputies,” he added.

Earlier, the coordinator of the forum, Mrs. Comfort Ogunye, said that it was critical for governments to make life better for women because of the sacrifices they made for the nation.

She said, “Nigeria has the second highest rate of maternal mortality in the world. One out of every 18 women dies during or after child birth. Women remain the poorest of the poor in Nigeria. Of the 11 million school age children that are not in school, 62 per cent are girls. There is an obvious link between illiteracy, poverty, health status and child survival.”

In her speech entitled, ‘The Role of Women in National Politics,’ Ms. Joke Silva noted that the time had come for women to take their destinies in their own hands.

She said that as one who knew the pedigree of Mr. Adeola, having been part of the Fate Foundation project, she had no doubt that voters would have a better deal in his team.

Silva assured the women that women’s interest would be the priority of the ACN government.