Politics
2023 Polls: INEC, Women Organisation Engage Critical Stakeholders
The Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), in collaboration with theIndependent National Electoral Commission (INEC), have engaged critical stakeholders on effective and gender mainstreaming that will promote equality in the electoral space.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the engagement meeting for critical stakeholders in Oyo State, held at Owu Crown Hotel in Ibadan, was to enhance more women participation in Nigeria politics ahead of the 2023 elections.
In his goodwill message, Mr Abiodun Amosun, who represented the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Oyo, said the meeting was a pre-assessment on Gender and Election Watch Programme.
Amosun said the programme was timely and historic, “in the sense that general elections is around the corner, coupled with the fact that INEC accorded high level priority to mainstreaming gender considerations across all areas of its activities”.
He explained that the commission embarked on the review of its Gender Policy for 2021-2025, in line with the commission’s Strategic Plan 2022-2026, geared toward consolidating free, fair, credible and inclusive elections in the country.
According to him, the outcomes of the review process informed the commission’s decision to establish a new department, known as Gender and Inclusivity, with the task of raising awareness on gender sensitivity and improving gender equity.
On the pre-assessment meeting, the Administrative Secretary, said the Election Watch Programme was one of the key performance indicators for pursuing and advancing gender concerns in all electoral activities.
Amosun said the rationale/modalities and how to identify anticipated participants for the next Gender Election Watch Programme would be looked into at the meeting.
“This would be geared toward enhancing women participation; the percentage of women in politics still remains very low and not too encouraging,” he said.
On the meeting’s objectives, Mrs Victoria Eta-Messi, the Deputy Director, Gender Relations, INEC in Abuja, said: “It is basically to sensitise the selected state offices of the commission on intervention that the Nigerian Women Trust Fund intend to do.
“With regards to gender mainstreaming ahead of 2023 general elections and beyond.
“With the European Union funding, Gender Election Watch is going to run for five years, but the main programme which is going to be implemented soonest, before the 2023 elections, is Gender and Election Watch.
“So, the first leg of the programme is the sensitisation of the eight selected states, where we will sensitise critical stakeholders on how to go about implementing activities of the programme that would ensure we have effective and equitable gender mainstreaming.
“We know that elections are under way in a couple of months and campaign would soon begin.
“So, there is going to be monitoring and observation of the campaign practices and processes with a gender lens from gender perspectives,” Eta-Messi explained.
She said that the programme would enable the stakeholders to have information required and what INEC and NWTF plan to do with regard to ensuring that there is increased women participation in 2023 election processes.
On her parts, the Programme Officer, NWTF, Ruth Manu, observed that the marginalisation of women in the nation’s political equation remains the central challenge of democratic governance.
According to her, some of the barriers to women’s participation in Nigeria politics are lack of effective government’ action to domesticate and implement International conventions that promote women’s equal participation in policy and governance processes.
“The systematic exclusion of women from leadership positions within political parties, education system and public spheres of representation, also media, provide less visibility for women in politics,” she said.
Manu further explained that the NWTF objectives were to contribute to the increase participation and greater inclusion of women in politics and pushing for legislation for women and gender to get to the mainstream politics.
She said the organisation was engaging INEC leadership, Women Societies, National Orientation Agency, traditional rulers religious leaders, political parties media and Civil Society Organisations to play their respective roles in actualising its objectives.
Manu urged all participants to ensure they carry out the awareness and sensitisation back to their members.
The programme officer said that this would enable them to be better informed on the needs for women to be more involved in politics.
The participants appreciated NWTF and INEC for the engagement, promising to do more in the sensitisation of the general public through their respective platforms.
NAN reports that theme of the one-day engagement was: “Women’s Political Participation, Inclusion and 2023 General Elections”. (NAN)
Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, has directed his legal team to resume all court proceedings against Mrs. Tracy Ohiri over her repeated allegations of indebtedness and other claims against him.
Mrs Ohiri had publicly accused Senator Umahi of owing her N280 million for campaign materials from his tenure as party chairman in Ebonyi State.
The allegations went viral on social media, where she also accused the Minister of sexual harassment.
Security agencies arrested Mrs Ohiri, and she was subsequently prosecuted. Her lawyer, Barrister Marshall Abubakar, intervened, leading to the deletion of all posts and a public apology, which also gained widespread attention online.
However, days after the apology, Mrs Ohiri resumed her claims against Senator Umahi.
In a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Francis Nwaze, Senator Umahi said he had informed Barrister Abubakar during the intervention that if Mrs Ohiri could provide verifiable evidence, logs, and communications from the period in question, some of his associates were willing to contribute a sum of One Billion Naira (N1billion) to her, evidence which, he said, she had yet to provide.
“The Honourable Minister of Works, Senator Engr. David Umahi, has been monitoring the ongoing public discourse surrounding the claims and counterclaims by Mrs. Tracy Ohiri.
“Ordinarily, this would have been ignored, but in the interest of truth and public clarity, it is necessary to address the issues directly”, the statement read.
The statement clarified that Barrister Abubakar acted in good faith and without any financial interest, motivated solely by a desire to assist Mrs Ohiri.
At no point did the lawyer discuss or negotiate any payment with the minister, although some well-meaning associates independently offered support”, the statement added.
Senator Umahi reiterated the conditions for resolving the matter: either the claims must be tested in court, or Mrs Ohiri must provide credible evidence, including all relevant communications, to substantiate her allegations.
The minister emphasised that Barr Abubakar conducted himself with integrity throughout the process.
“Following the failure to meet these conditions, particularly the inability to provide verifiable evidence, the Minister has directed his legal team to proceed with all court processes to ensure the truth is fully established,” the statement said.
Senator Umahi said despite years of public provocations and attacks, he chose to remain silent, focusing on national and state services.
He thanked Nigerians who had taken time to assess the facts and noted that “not everyone who presents themselves as a victim truly is one, and in some cases, narratives are deliberately inverted.”
The Minister affirmed that he will not be distracted by Mrs Ohiri’s allegations and remained committed to his mandate at the Ministry of Works.
“The focus remains on results, service, and ensuring that Nigerians continue to benefit from projects that improve connectivity, economic growth, and national development. This administration will continue to pursue its transformation agenda with dedication, transparency, and an unwavering sense of responsibility,” he concluded.
A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has adjourned proceedings in a suit filed by three aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to April 14, 2026, for the hearing of all pending motions.
Justice Stephen Jumbo made the pronouncement during a recent sitting in Port Harcourt.
The suit, which borders on the legitimacy of the party’s leadership structure in the state, was instituted against the factional State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Aaron Chukwuemeka, alongside the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and other respondents.
Also joined in the matter are the PDP as a corporate entity, the Rivers State Government, as well as Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt City and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Areas, including their respective Vice Chairmen and Councillors.
The claimants, Enyi Uchechukwu, Wisdom Kalio and Uche Amadi, approached the court via an originating summons seeking judicial interpretation on the validity of actions taken by the Chief Chukwuemeka-led state executive committee of the party.
Central to the dispute is whether the said executive committee, whose emergence the claimants contend has been nullified by a subsisting court judgment, retains the legal authority to act on behalf of the party in critical electoral matters.
The plaintiffs specifically urged the court to determine whether the factional leadership could validly submit a list of candidates to RSIEC for the purpose of participating in local government elections.
They further questioned the legitimacy of the PDP’s participation in the August 30, 2025 local government elections, contending that any list purportedly submitted by the factional leadership was invalid and of no legal consequence.
In addition to the declaratory reliefs sought, the claimants also prayed the court to grant consequential orders addressing the outcome and conduct of the said elections across the affected local government areas.
At the resumed hearing, counsel representing the PDP and the affected local government councils informed the court that they had only recently been served with the originating processes and accompanying documents.
The defence team, comprising several Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), disclosed that service of the court processes was effected on March 13, 2026, leaving them with limited time to adequately prepare their responses.
Consequently, the defence counsel applied for an adjournment to enable them study the processes and address the legal issues raised, particularly as they relate to jurisdictional questions and points of law.
Counsel to the claimants, Glory Chizim-Chinda, did not oppose the application, following which the presiding judge granted the request and adjourned the matter to April 14, 2026, for the hearing of all pending motions, with a possible ruling expected ahead of the substantive suit.
By: King Onunwor
A former state lawmaker in the old the Rivers State, Professor Alex Eseimokumo, has described Nigerian opposition political parties as mere preposition political parties.
He also advised the country’s electorate against selling their votes during next year’s general elections.
The former legislator, who is also the president of the Institute for Peace, Conflict Resolution and Entrepreneurial Research, said this in an exclusive interview with The Tide on the sidelines of an event organized by the institute in Port Harcourt.
He said opposition political parties in Nigeria have been reduced to preposition political parties as most of them are not only dinning with the government but advising government on what to do to win election.
“The problem in Nigeria is we are not practicing politics the way it is supposed to be.The opposition are more in preposition.
“You see, opposition is supposed to find out things that are wrong in government but in our present day politics, you see opposition even dinning with the other group. So, there is basically nothing like opposition in Nigeria “, he said.
He lamented a situation where some individuals within the opposition are allegedly working hard to prevent their parties from fielding presidential candidates in the forthcoming election, adding that such individuals were only there to protect their personal interest.
Prof. Eseimokumo said as a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he could not wish his party to fail in the election, even though nothing is impossible in Nigeria.
He noted that though the government in power has been trying it’s best, there was more to be done.
In his words, “I’m an APC member, so I don’t have the right to criticize my party but a word of advice: we still need to do more, more people oriented leadership where everybody will feel carried along.
“For now, I’m campaigning for APC to be re elected and if I stand here to say APC is not doing well, I’m not being fair to myself. But I think, with God all things are possible, there can be changes”.
On his assessment of the performances of governors of the Niger Delta states, Prof Eseimokumo said the governors were doing well within the limit of their resources.
” I don’t know what is given to them as allocation, but if what we are seeing in terms of window dressing is not window shopping, then they are doing well”, he said.
Meanwhile, Prof. Eseimokumo has advised Nigerian electorates against selling their votes during the forthcoming elections.
He said credible election could only be achieved when the electorates refuse financial inducement during the elections.
According to him, though Nigerian voters had been difficult to persuade, the time had come for them to stop selling their votes.
Prof. Eseimokumo said the forthcoming elections will serve as a litmus test for the Nigerian electorate to demonstrate their desire for changes in the country, stressing that free and fair elections will continue to be a mirage in the country until the was a change in the attitude of the electorate.
“If you want your vote to count, don’t take money from anybody; if you want your votes to count, don’t collect money for your vote. The moment you collect money for your vote, you have sold your conscience”, he warned.
He said his institute will continue to work for peace, not just in the Niger Delta region but across Nigeria.
By: John Bibor
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