Posted by From John Iwori in Yenagoa on
Not less than 2,000 protesting Ijaw women yesterday sacked the members of Bayelsa State House of Assembly in Yenagoa, as they mounted a sentry at the main entrance of the complex, preventing everybody from entering or coming out of the premises.
Not less than 2,000 protesting Ijaw women yesterday sacked the members of Bayelsa State House of Assembly in Yenagoa, as they mounted a sentry at the main entrance of the complex, preventing everybody from entering or coming out of the premises.
The Assembly Speaker, Hon. Boyelayefa Debekeme, and other principal officers also went into hiding to avert the wrath of the irate women.
The women action took lawmakers by surprise even as the sitting of the Assembly scheduled for day could not hold. The sitting was meant to screen the newly nominated members of the transition management committees of the 24 new local government councils in the state.
The women's protest caused a traffic jam at Amarata, a suburb of the state capital which also serves as the commercial hub of Yenagoa where most banks and other business operators have their offices.
Chanting war songs with placards, the women refused the entreaties of the few policemen who were on duty at Assembly complex. They also resisted attempts by top government officials who wanted them to leave the premises while the state government looking into their demands.
Some of the placards read: 'Is the Governor's cousin now the Governor?," Give Women a Chance," 'Okordia//Biseni Women are Marginalised," 'Enough is enough," ‘This Cheating and Injustice must stop now" and 'We want Empowerment, Mr. Speaker."
According to the embittered women, only one woman out of the three we nominated for the position of chairman was approved, describing it as unacceptable, even as they posited that democracy does not connote gender inequality.
Continuing, they regretted that not even one woman was included as member in a caretaker committee of 7 persons in the entire 24 local government development centres in the state.
'It amount to serious injustice and impunity for government officials to subvert list of women nominees to be appointed members of the transition management committees for the 24 local government councils and replaced them with men," the aggrieved women said.
They maintained that they have contributed so much to the sustenance of democracy in the state and should also be considered for fair share when appointment is made in the state.
THISDAY recalled that Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha had on Monday dissolved the transition management committees of the 24 newly created local government areas in the state.
In a statement signed by the state commissioner for Information, Tourism, Culture and Strategy, Mr. Oronto Douglas, the governor asked all the chairmen to handover to their Heads of Personnel Management. The statement was later followed by the repeated announcement of the new nominees in the state radio station, Glory F.M.