APC Women demand key positions in Buhari’s next cabinet

The Women of the All Progressives Congress Aspirants Forum, which
comprise of female aspirants for electoral positions in the 2019
general elections who were defeated by their male counterparts, has
added a new feature to the lobby for appointments in the ruing APC.
Members of the APC Women Forum are demanding for key positions in
President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments to form the next cabinet.
It was gathered that leader of the Women APC Aspirants Forum,
Adedoyin Eshanumi, in Abuja, remarked that the demand has become
unavoidable because men have taken over 90 per cent of political
positions in the ruling party.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Women Aspirants Forum is making
the demand for key appointments in President Buhari’s next cabinet as
way of rewarding or compensating the female members of the party who
also worked for the success of the party like the men in the general
elections.

The Forum also recalled the 35 Affirmative Action document of the
United Nations to which Nigeria is signatory to, noting that the
National Policy of Women, the domesticated version of the Affirmative
Action, adopted in 2000, has not been reflected in the Buhari
administration and the APC government across the federation.
It was also recalled that in 2011, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
government and the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration,
increased women appointment in government to about 33 per cent of the
federal cabinet. Then, there were still advocacies to increase women
appointments to fulfill the 35 per cent Affirmative Action
prescription like in some other African countries.
The APC Women Aspirants Forum is urging President Buhari fulfill his
promise to give 35% of cabinet appointments to women.
The Forum was said to have also demanded the members of the Ninth
National Assembly to enact laws that will protect female politicians
from the “bullying” character of their male counterparts.