Umuahia – First Lady Patience Jonathan has urged women to protect their votes in the April general elections.

Jonathan made the call at the South-East Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) women rally in Umuahia on Friday, saying: “I have come to tell you that the Jonathan/Sambo ticket is the combination you can’t beat.”

She said his husband and Vice-President Namadi Sambo were intellectual materials, as she led PDP women leaders such as the wife of the vice-president, Hajiya Amina Sambo; the PDP Women Presidential Campaign Coordinator, Hajiya Zainab Maina and Mrs Ify Ozoani, the South-East Women Leader, to the rally.

Jonathan noted that women would fare better under a PDP government by getting up to 35 per cent representation in elective and appointive positions.

She said the present administration had given women the highest representation at all levels of government and added that the best had yet to come for them.

The first lady said the president had already started the process by appointing women into sensitive posts such as navy admiral, deputy inspector-general of police and comptroller-general of immigration.

She also said the president was committed to ensuring that women were trained as regular combatant soldiers.

Jonathan said it was regrettable that the situation at the federal level had not been replicated in some states such as Abia, where out of eight members of the House of Representatives, only two were women.

“The large turnout at this rally is a sign that the women are gradually raising their political consciousness and can make the needed change in the state and Nigeria.

“I, therefore, urge you to also come out in your numbers to cast your votes and make sure they count,” she said.