…says she’s highly disappointed

…adds male signatories to passage of bills also killed them

…says Nigeria’s 184 position out of 187 countries of women representation unacceptable

…as women groups block NASS main gate in protest

By Levinus Nwabughiogu-Abuja

Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Nkiru Onyejiocha who championed the bills for creation of the additional special 111 seats for women in the parliament and offices in the hierarchy of political parties has said she was outraged that the pieces of legislation were killed.

It will be recalled that the two bills and yet another one on indigeneship for a foreign spouse of a Nigerian woman were all ejected on Tuesday during voting on the amendment clauses in the 1999 constitutional review.

Though the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila deployed some dexterity to get the House eventually pass the bill on giving some percentage to the women in the ministerial and commissionership appointments, all the bills failed woefully in the Senate during the voting exercise.

Reacting to the development, Hon. Onyejiocha who represents Isikwuato/Umunneochi federal constituency of Abia State in a press briefing on Wednesday said there was a conspiracy against inclusion of women in political participation.

She said that Nigeria was losing out from the gains that accrued from the 35 percent affirmative action.

Onyejiocha added that it was unacceptable that Nigeria was still ranked 184 out of 187 countries in the women’s political representation index.

Expressing disappoinment, the lawmaker explained that it was worrisome that most male lawmakers who co-sponsored the bill turned around on the voting day to kill the bill.

She said: “Everybody saw what transpired on the floor of the House, even the Senate yesterday. To say the least, I am very disappointed. Disappointed not because people shut down the bills but because the bills that were shut down have taken this country backwards. Take it from the basics. Number one. God Himself created Adam and removed a rib and made Eve and said this is your help mate. Nigeria as we speak is boasting with their women who are doing wonderfully well. And of course, you saw that Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala contested with world powers and she made it. That’s our blood. Look at Amina Mohammed, to mention but a few. We boast of being the giant of Africa, yet we are the least as far as women representation is concerned. I am also worried because we are losing a lot in terms of resources because a lot of nations do not give us the grants that are meant for us because representation. You can get those fact from the UNDP. They have the records.

“And as we speak, with a ranking of 184 out of 187 countries, our men should be ashamed of what they did yesterday. That’s the truth, 184 out of 187, Nigeria should not raise their heads high with this kind of outcome.

“We have pushed for 35 affirmative action. It started in the 6th Assembly. I came here in 2007 and I was chairman of women in parliament and we tried to increase our number and yet, it didn’t work and the reason it was failing was because the men are asking this particular question: which seat do you want to take. I said that this is an issue of preservation which is not supposed to be at all because if you do not come to the House of Reps, you can be anything, governor. They are the people becoming governors in several States, appointed ministers. As we speak, how many Minister’s do we have? Wherever you go, you still find men and they will still find their feet.

“We pushed for 35 percent affirmative action which is going to give us like 128 female lawmakers, no body want to hear that. Even their wives came up to ask me questions, if you pass that 35 percent affirmative action, it will affect our husbands and so, it didn’t fly.

Onyejiocha also went down memory lane to explain that she got the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila to be the lead sponsor of the bill so as to get the support of the members, yet the bill also failed.

According to her, the idea of creating special 111 seats for women was not to push men out of the existing 360 seats in the House of Representatives.

“So, I said since the issue is that nobody wants to lose his seat for a woman, let’s create additional seats to accommodate and break the jinx and fill the gap because it is so wide. 184 out of 187, are we a country? How do you explain it? What do you tell the world? Would tell the world that your coming 184th. And then we are shouting that if we give these women a chance, they will overrun us. How are they going to over run you? We do not over run you in your homes when we are taking care of your children, nurturing you, providing for you, giving you comfort, campaigning for you to win election? I know most men that will not be on this floor if the women don’t gather to support and vote them in? Then you are saying we are not fit, that we will remain on this 184 out of 187 countries? It’s laughable to say the least.

“So, what happened yesterday, for me, was unimaginable. I couldn’t think about it because I was not expecting it because having known how bills are killed on the floor, I decided to let everybody to co-sponsor this bill. And the number sponsor of this bill is our Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and I know in several fora, we have accorded him this he for she number one in this parliament even outside Nigeria. We raised the bar because we believe he raised the bar for us. And I know that for a presiding officer to sponsor a bill, I do not know anything that will kill that bill because he’s our boss. I am not saying this to indict him but I am saying that with that gavel, authority of being our head, sponsoring a bill? And remember that this is the first time a presiding officer will say that all the women will be members of the constitution review. So I took it for granted that no matter how, this bill is going to pass because he’s a man, so he will talk with the boys and the men. Yes, he spoke with them and yet, if this bill can fail on the sponsorship of one hundred and something male members, we are just 13.

“The first signatures we collected on the first day were eighty something and that was just appeared in the first gazette and after that we have almost like 100 signatures again because we explained to them that your seats are secured, 360 and sixty seats, no body is contending that with you. It will run normal but the additional seats of 111, two per state and all that, let’s s have it that way and then, the Senate, one per State. And I thought that because they are not threatened in any way, that they needed to support that we have these gaps filled. I didn’t expect that the bills will be killed. And of course, if you noticed when they started shouting no, no and all that, I was moving round to say you are co-sponsoring this bill. So, what’s the no about. It is more worrisome that people who signed their signatures to a bill will come on the day of voting to say no. I explained to you that your seat is secured but let us creat additional seats that will enable us bring more women so that they will remove us from 184 out of 187 because the whole world was watching us yesterday. At least 187 countries including Nigeria were watching to see how we will break this jinx.

“I came here with other female colleagues, twenty something women, it declined. Today we are 13. So, what’s the guarantee that in the 10th assembly, it will not decline further with this type of gang up, conspiracy and hatred for inclusion because that’s how I take it. The words may be strong but that is what it is. If it not about bias, I don’t know how to put. I know some people will raise point of privilege. Let them raise it because I don’t know how you will explain to me that you sponsored a bill and you are part of the people that killed the bill. What it simple means is that the 88 that we got, remove the 13 women, where are the others? If it is not bias, what will it be? They are bias about women issues. That’s why it played out that even party administration, is there any member going to be a Women leader, a secretary of a party, treasury and yet it was killed. 35 percent representation on party matters, in political party structure, so, what’s wrong wrong in giving them some percent to help build the party?” She said.

Meanwhile, Nigerian women from different places stormed the National Assembly to protest against the rejection of the bills, describing it as wicked and inhuman.

The protesters blocked the main gate of the assembly complex while carrying different placards with some inscriptions.

They prevented the staff of the assembly from gaining access into the complex, thereby causing both vehicular and human traffic.

One of the leaders, Biola Akiode said they were at the national assembly to demand that the issue concerning the women should be addressed.

“We are here to demand that the wrong that was done to the women should be redressed. What we saw yesterday was a manifestation of historical injustices that affecting the participation of voice of the Nigeria women.

“Yesterday, we realised that people who are representing us are not representing the 50% of the population and they were actually representing themselves. The issue of Nigerian women and young people are not prioritised.

“We have five demands and we negotiated these demands through their different interventions to put up those issues.

“We have women who met the speaker of the House. We have women who came to present positions at the public hearing”, she said.