Thousands of women across the south-east, on Thursday, stormed the streets of Umuahia, Abia state capital, for a solidarity walk in support of the presidential ambition of Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi.
The women, under the umbrella of Women United for Yahaya Bello (WUYABEL), said they were ready to mobilise other women across the country to ensure Bello succeeds President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
The programme, tagged “one million women march for Yahaya Bello”, witnessed women from all walks of life marching through the streets and singing solidarity songs, while some of them held placards with various inscriptions such as “If Yahaya Bello can do it in Kogi, he can do it for Nigeria”, “Yahaya Bello is our choice”, and “Yahaya Bello, our hero”.
They noted that the Kogi governor has demonstrated enough capacity in key areas of governance to make him the best candidate for the job, adding that he is the only governor in the country that has given women the right voice in governance.
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Speaking during a rally after the walk, Josephine Orauno, vice-president, Nigerian Women Arise for Nigeria (NIWAFON), who represented the global president, Hannatu Adeeko, said women are more united now than ever to ensure they support that one governor who has shown to the others the real worth of women in governance.
“That governor is Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello. This is the reason we are gathered here to let him know that he has the strong support of south east women, and indeed, the women of Nigeria, to go for the higher assignment of presidency. I was not actively involved in election processes before, but this time, we will go all out for Yahaya Bello,” Orauno said.
“I’ve heard people saying some of these things are stage-managed. They should wait and see if it is organic or not. With what we would do for Yahaya Bello, I mean the Nigerian women, other governors and leaders will no longer joke with the issue of giving women what they deserve.”
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Ogechi Obilonu, popular Nollywood actress, who led other south-east Nollywood female stars, including Phil Daniels, Amaka Offor, and Faith Ononiwu to the rally, said she had heard a lot about the Kogi governor and urged women to support him in return for his belief in women.
“Anyone who supports us, we will support. His giant strides in Kogi is because he has intelligent women in the right places. He can repeat the same at the national level,” she said.
Lolo Josephine Chukwu, zonal woman leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), also urged party women in the zone to rally round the governor.
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