Lists of candidates for all elective positions from the Presidency to the House of Assembly have now been published by the Independent National Electoral Commission as mandated by the Electoral Act.

A noticeable feature in all the lists is the declining numbers of women and youth who will be contesting elections to the various elective offices on the platforms of the 18 registered political parties in the 2023 general elections. This is not a cheering news in spite of all the battles waged by women and youth for inclusivity in the political arena in recent past.

Whereas women and youths are holding forefront leadership positions in other climes, there is only one presidential candidate of the APM and Delta State-born politician, Princess Chichi Ojei whereas there’s no youth under the age of 40 among the presidential candidates in the 2023 election. The depleting ranks of women and youth contestants is very disconcerting and may have caused some of the gender equality advocates and civil society organisations promoting such interests to return to the drawing board and put on their thinking caps.

The drop in the number of candidates is not only regrettable but a worrisome development because it contrasts sharply with previous elections in Nigeria. We have had women like Mrs Remi Sonaiya contesting as the presidential candidate of KOWA party in the 2015 election. She was hoping to join the league of female presidents like Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf or Malawi’s Joyce Banda, who broke through the glass ceiling to get to the highest office in their countries.

Mrs Sarah Jubril and some others tried their luck to contest the primaries of their political parties but ended up unsuccessful. In the current dispensation, countdown to the 2022 primaries there were at least seven women who showed interest in being president. They included Khadijat-Okunnu-Lamidi (SDP), Carol Nwosu (AAC) Patience Key (PRP), Angela Johnson (APGA) In the two biggest parties, there were female aspirants such as Barr Uju Ohanenye and Ibinabo Joy Dokubo who aspired in the APC, and Mrs Olivia Diana Teriela in the PDP.

The declining numbers of women and youth contesting in the 2023 election is of growing concerns to different groups promoting equitable representation of these disadvantaged groups in the electoral process.

YIAGA has bemoaned the decline in youth Candidacy in the 2023 Election. Last month it
launched the report on Youth Candidacy in the 2023 elections, with a detailed analysis of the official candidates list released by INEC.Its findings: a decline of youth candidacy from 34% in 2019, to 28.6% in the 2023 elections.

As Part of recommendations from the stakeholders at the launch, Civil Society Organizations and the public are tasked with providing technical, financial, and logistical support to the young candidates.

The media was also tasked to not only prioritize visibility of youth candidates in their reporting, but to also improve the general public’s perception of young people who are running for office.

But the situation with women participation is even more dismal. Of the 1,110 senatorial seats to be contested for nationally in 2023, only 92 or 8.4 percent are women. In the same vein, of the 3,114 House of Representatives candidates nationally, only 286 or 9.2 percent are women.

North West zone has the lowest female senatorial candidates while the South South has the highest number of senatorial candidates. North West zone also has the lowest House of Representatives candidates while the South West has the highest female candidates according to statistics obtained from INEC platform.

A deeper analysis of the data shows that the number of female candidates is more in the less dominant parties. For instance, National Rescue Movement has 10 senatorial candidates – the highest- followed by Social Democratic Party (SDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) with nine candidates each, followed by Action Peoples Party (APP) with 8 candidates.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has only 4 female candidates contesting for part of the 109 senatorial seats while the Peoples Democratic Party has five senatorial candidates. APC has only 21 House of Representatives candidates while the PDP has only 19.

After the 2019 general elections, there were only 29 women in the National Assembly. Out of this number, only six ended up in the Senate and the remaining 23 in the House of Representatives.

It is generally believed that women are muscled out of the electoral contest due to some factors. Discussing some of the factors recently, Senator Mrs Ita Giwa, said the political environment is not conducive for women. She said violence remains an issue adding that in her own experience, she had to learn violence along with electioneering. She also identified finance as a concern for women.

But more worrisome is the manner women are also losing positions hitherto reserved for them for gender balance. In some states, the position of Deputy Governor was reserved for women. But not anymore. In Lagos and Osun states where such used to be the case, the parties in government have since replaced women with their male counterparts. They now have male Deputy Governors.

Now that women and youth have lost grounds in opportunities available for elective offices, there is still a window for them to extract commitments for affirmative action from the leading candidates in the election to commit to a reasonable percentage of appointments post general election. In that way the battle for inclusivity could be remedied.