By Rita Okoye
The only female aspirant in the race for the Speaker, House of Representatives, Princess Miriam Onuoha, has said she won’t back down in the tussle for the seat.
Onuoha who spoke in a national television programme yesterday, vowed to stand her ground in order to protect women’s right in Nigerian politics.
“Backing out from the speakership election will be detrimental and demoralizing to women’s aspirations in politics. if you promised 35 per cent affirmative action, the time to prove it to Nigeria is now. Anything less will rub off on the integrity of the party and the person we all respect. The President Elect is under pressure at the moment. I know with time he would do the right thing…However the zoning formula comes, it is either the speaker or the deputy speaker, it will definitely come our way. That is why I have opened my tentacles to lobbying. I have strengthened my lobbying. It is a presiding office or nothing. I am not running to be compensated with the Leader of the House or be Chief Whip or Deputy Whip. I am running to be Speaker of the House of Representatives, worst case, Deputy Speaker, so that women will still have a voice on the presiding table, so, that opportunity gives us the platform or the leverage to sit on the decision-making table as the leadership of the House of Representatives.”
Onuoha submission follows several controversies rocking the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC, which on Monday adopted a zoning template for the position of principal officers of the 10th National Assembly.
When asked if she had met with the president-elect, to personally solicit his support, Onuoha said she was sure of Bola Tinubu blessings.
“By the grace of God, he has promised to work with Nigeria’s gender policy, which is an international treaty that we have ratified here. And the 35 per cent affirmative action has been ratified and the gender action policy. Asiwaju is an inclusive person, who made a woman his deputy governor, who did not just become a senator but elevated his wife to the status of a senator. Not a councillor that will be lower than himself, but a senator, which is the highest legislative body. I am confident that he will not keep women aside, however, it goes,” she said.