As the clock ticks towards the 2023 general elections, more female candidates, like their male counterparts, have continued to strategise and improve on their visibility by making their voices heard on why Nigerians and their constituents should vote for them.

Statistics of female participation in the 2023 general elections have shown a decline compared to what obtained in 2019. It is in fact a major setback and disappointment, because of all the efforts that have gone into the advocacy to get more women into more elective positions. This year’s outcome of the party primaries suggests that the political parties may have been paying lip service to affirmative action for women representation. The women did relatively better winning their tickets from the smaller parties than they did in the biggest two parties of APC and PDP.

The few women privileged to have emerged from their party primaries as candidates and would be contesting for different legislative positions both at the state and federal levels have expressed their capabilities to make a difference if elected from their various constituencies. Some of them who spoke to the Nigerian Democratic Report (NDR) expressed their optimism submitting that their staying power is their resilience and commitment to against all odds put up a good showing in the coming polls.

They have painstakingly done their due diligence and researched into the needs analysis of the people in their constituencies, and are convinced that they have all it takes to win the confidence of their people as they can relate to what their problems are. They also reasoned that they had initiated progressive programs which will change their jurisdictions and consequently, their image perception with their people.

From the provision of social amenities to women’s empowerment, these women unveil how they can change the concept of responsive leadership in their different environments. In the political space that is dominated by patriarchy and gender description, these versatile and experienced female politicians are quite resolute to display their capacity across the board. We present a panoramic view of some of the female candidates, their worldview and their perspectives to politics and governance and how they intend to plot their winning strategy.

Barrister Iyabo Fakunle Okiehemen
Just like an author who has a clear understanding of her script, Barrister Princess Iyabo Fakunle Okiehemen, the APC candidate for Ilejemeje constituency in Ekiti state House of Assembly spoke extensively on her plans for the people in her constituency. A Princess, who was raised in the Fakunle royal family, in Ilejemeje local government had lived her entire youthful years in Ekiti state, before moving to Lagos due to her marriage. As a private business owner, she founded two business enterprises namely LIFAK and The Light limited for food processing and other varieties.

Barrister Iyabo Fakunle-Okiehemen

Her political career cannot be completely mentioned without the influence of her father who was the late king of Ilejemeje. According to her, she was inspired by his acts of service and benevolence which gave her a compassionate mindset towards the less privileged and children.

“I have always had compassion on the less privileged, I always want to help but what I could do was limited within my power and my father, being a king, the way he affected his community by sponsoring so many children who are not his and other good things. His actions have been my motivation to do the same”, she said.

With her conviction that the best way to reach the majority of people with her magnanimous heart is by joining politics, she joined the Peoples Democratic Party in 2005, when she contested for a political position and lost. She later defected to the APC in 2015.

Having served in different leadership capacities in the past as the former Special Assistant on social welfare to two former state governors, former executive secretary to Ilejemeje caretaker chairman, and as the immediate past Ccommissioner for environment and natural resources, she deemed it fit for herself to move to the state legislative arm. According to her, going to the Ekiti state legislature will enhance her leadership capacity. Also, as a lawyer, she noted that being a lawmaker will further complement her service to the state and the people.

“I want to be a legislator because it is a good training ground for me as a lawyer to understand law making. I know how the executive operates by having an interface with governors one on one, then hardly anything will catch me by surprise even if I become a state governor.”, Iyabo Fakule Okiehemen stated.

Apart from her personal development if she becomes victorious in the coming elections, she highlighted her plans to continue to help the less privileged and poor people in her constituency as she has done in her previous positions. She elucidated on her programmes to empower the girl child against societal vulnerabilities. She reflected on how people are getting sparse health attention and how she planned to bring her focus on them.

“I cannot see myself not giving my people quality life. Although, the major and the number one duty of a legislature is to make laws, at the same time we have what we call the constituency projects. Whatever I will give to the good people of Ilejemeje, let them rest assured that I will bring it home. “I have a particular interest in girl child education, helping the less privileged, Medicare. I know that lots of people in the localities really suffer. little ailment, they don’t have good attention like some people, they might be blind because of cataract, just to perform a simple operation”, she explained.

She noted that her campaign will be kicking off on December 27th, a day before her birthday. To show her commitment to her campaign promises, particularly with the indigent students in school, she will be sharing 400 notebooks and 50 school bags to the students in her constituency. She concluded by saying that she will not hesitate to sponsor students with no learning materials.

“I also want to help indigent students to have better access to education. Like now, I have already made 400 big note exercise books, then I am making 50 school bags and what I’m planning to do is to go to all the schools in my local government to give me five names of the less privileged students. If you see some students on their way to their schools, you will almost cry. Some go to school barefooted, some of them with torn uniforms, some of them put their books in nylon bags, those are little things we can do to affect lives”. She enthused.

Honourable Titilayo Owolabi-Akerele
For Honourable Titilayo Owolabi- Akerele, a senatorial candidate for Ekiti North senatorial district under the platform of the Social Democratic Party(SDP), her main focus is to empower women and the girl child for better participation of women in leadership positions and to develop the aviation sector.

Hon Titilayo Owolabi-Akerele

Brimming with tonnes of experience from the civil service in the aviation sector, she rose to become a union leader before her retirement. Following her retirement, Honourable Owolabi- Akerele went on to become a member of the Ekiti state House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party in 2015, and her tenure ended in 2019. As a state legislator, despite not receiving constituency allowance due to economic constraints in the state, she denied herself of luxury, and she delivered dividends of democracy to her constituency. “At first, I felt bad because, in politics, you are not supposed to expose all problems in government to the public, so you keep quiet and manage it.

“But I denied myself all my running grants and my allowances. I saved them and now turned to my family for survival and feeding. So, what I did was that I did a needs analysis on my constituency and I discovered we had a very big town hall in Oke Ayedun Ekiti that could be refixed and I renovated it. That cost millions of Naira, and immediately after I did that, the community income jumped up by more than 500%. Everybody was happy including the opposition, non-politicians, religious leaders, and my party members. In the other community, Esun Ekiti, from the needs analysis, I discovered they needed a market, because they created a new market with no stalls, So, I built stalls and dug a well for them.

“Also, I knew that people had health issues, so I organized with my friends in the diasporas and I brought in ten medical personnel from North America, and they came and stayed with us for about a week, I travelled to Abuja to get approval from NAFDAC, they were giving people free drugs and eyeglasses, de-wormed children and they also did health talks and it was quite beneficial”, she narrated.

“Having enjoyed a successful tenure at the State House of Assembly, Honourable Owolabi-Akerele put herself up for another challenge by vying for a senatorial position. As a gender activist, she stated that her strong point of attention aims at women’s empowerment, protection of the girl child and restoration of the aviation sector.

In her promise to change the current narrative of low women participation in leadership, she noted her determination to make the 35% affirmative action bill implementable remains undaunted. “The greatest thing I want to do is to continue this fight we have been on, and that is the issue of 35% affirmative action. It’s been passed to law, every known law but the enforcement and implementation is where we are lagging behind. So, if I get to the Senate by the grace of God, honestly, I want to see a Nigeria where more women will be involved in governance, not written on the pages of paper but in real numbers.

“You can imagine from 2015 to 2019, there were 55 female members of the State Houses Assembly out of over 900, and by this present political calendar, it has dropped to a mere 40. Nigeria’s female representation in elective positions is quite poor. There is plenty of work to be done on female inclusion out there, on advocacy and changing the current narratives, etc. If possible, I would sponsor necessary Bills, I would continue to fight for amending the constitution to make the 35% affirmative action enforceable if I could do it at the state level; I believe I could do it up there if I am given the opportunity”, she said.

On the aviation sector, she said “I want to do something that will affect Nigeria’s aviation industry and I know we have quite a lot of youth in that industry, and most aviation retirees are not politicians, they do not have the time, because aviation is a science of the best of brains. It takes your time, and your energy and you do not have time to socialize. So, we have professional issues that I know if I get to the National Assembly, I will be beneficial to the industry.

Honourable Yemi Adedigba
Similarly, Honourable Elizabeth Oluwayemisi Adedigba, the ADC candidate for the House of Representative to represent Yewa North and Imeko Afon federal constituency was forthcoming in her expression of plans ahead of the 2023 election.

Hon Yemi Adedigba

As the first woman to vie for the post in her constituency, Adedigba explained that she is ready to break the jinx of women’s underrepresentation in leadership. Not a rookie in politics, she started her political journey from her heydays in student unionism in 1996, and she later became state Woman Leader of the party. Climbing the ladder of leadership, she noted that she was in the background for a long time, but now, it is her time to stand up to the spotlight to claim her turn. She noted that her political ambition has come to stay and she promised to set a new record in her constituency.

As a grassroots politician, she bemoaned the regression in her constituency, blaming the past administration for the plague of poverty which has befallen the people in the Yewa and Imeko constituency. She said her constituency is the most backward place in the country. Seeing herself as the solution for her people, she promised to upgrade the place.
“My people from Yewa, have not had a governor for over 40 years and that place is the most backward part of Nigeria. I have travelled far and wide in Nigeria, I can rate that place as the most backward. So that passion gave me the drive because, in the last elections, we had a representative candidate, we had a senator and two assemblies from my local government, and yet that place is still like that. So, the passion of my people, the suffering on their faces, no road, no good school, no medical facilities, no water, nothing you can talk of”, she lamented

She further shared her promises, pointing out how she plans to combat agricultural problems and smuggling problems in her place “When you talk of social amenities my people are deprived of them. You can see hunger written on their faces and poverty all over the place, then I have that passion for them, so that is why I said okay, let me try the elective post. If God gives me the grace and I win the election I have so many things I want to do to better their lots.

“I know I cannot do it all, but being the first woman contesting for the House of Reps in that federal constituency, I know as a mother I can see where it hurts them. If I can’t do it all, I know I should do something tangible for them, I should leave a mark on the sand of time.

“You see where I come from, the major occupations there are farming and smuggling. We have farmers of corn, and cassava farmers and we have rice and groundnut oil smugglers. And a lot of customs are usually on a rampage, especially during this tenure, but because they have not been empowered. So, I know that I will deliver them from the claws of customs officers.

Honourable Adedigba also highlighted how she plans to empower women in her constituency “You know that women are more than men in politics and Nigeria generally, the women in my place, a lot of them are peasant farmers, traders and most of them, don’t have jobs. So, I have programmes for women. I see that they are teachable and if you give them sellable skills, they will be able to stay by it if you empower them. They are also very loyal and honest people. If you empower them with a particular skill, they will manage themselves. And when you train a woman, it will get to their children.

Recognising the aged people in society and relevant to the developmental circle, Hon Adedigba expressed her interest in them and promised to relieve them of old age stress.
“I also have plans for old people 65 years and above, I love them so much, so I have pegged the old age to be 65, I have a stomach infrastructure plan for them, that every end of the month of my tenure, precisely last Thursday of the month I have packages for them enough foodstuff, rice, garri, beans etc.

“I will give them drugs that will take them throughout the month. I know there is no home without aged persons. I have plans for women who are widows, I have plans for them to give them food, money and empower them.

For the health sector, she promised to fix the failing healthcare system in her constituency. In the health sector, I want to repair the hospitals we have there or health centres, if I can be able to build a good hospital in the two local governments under my constituency, and I intend to refurbish the health centres to see their work.

“Then I plan doing a medical check up twice a year for as many that will submit themselves for the check. I plan on doing breast cancer checks, and cervical cancer checks, to check their blood pressure, their eyes, their teeth, and free glasses distribution under the jurisdiction of well-trained doctors.

She concluded on curbing the culture of open defecation in her constituency “I notice that a lot of people in my place, just enter the bushes and litter everywhere with faeces, I want to build public toilets and they will be paying a token of 50 Naira and the money will go back to the local government purse, it can be used for other things for them”