Court judgment ruined my aspiration to represent females in FCT- APC AMAC candidate

By Abuja Reporter

Ms Abiodun Essiet, the Vice Chairmanship candidate at the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) election has decried how court judgment ruined her aspiration of representing females in the council and in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Essiet said this while addressing newsmen at the sideline of the 2022 Female And More (FAM) Summit held in Abuja.

She said that her aspiration of being the voice of women was shattered by a court ruling passed two days before the Feb.12 elections.

Our correspondent gathered that an appeal was earlier lodged by Mr Sulieman Gwagwa and Ms Abidoun Essiet against Mr Murtala Karshi and the All Progressive Congress (APC) at the Court of Appeal.

The highest court of appeal however upheld the primary election of Murtala Karshi as the validly nominated candidate of the APC for the polls.

It was reported that the judgement was passed barely 48hours to the local government elections.

“I was going to come in as a female vice chairman which was an opportunity to boost female representation in the FCT, but with the court judgement, my hopes were shattered.

“Prior to the FCT elections, as a party, the APC held its party primary and we clearly won the election.

“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) attended and observed the primary and they knew and saw how I won with my team.

“But knowing fully well we won the primary election, we were denied the opportunity to be on ballot based on a court judgment which we believe there was more to.

“We had internal party issues and we went to court and the appeal court judgment was in our favor because we clearly won the primaries and we were ready to run with our mandates.

“Sadly when we got to the supreme court, the judgment was different on a flimsy excuse and the impact of the judgment reflected so badly on our party’s performance at the polls.

“Because on that Saturday at the polls, there was voter apathy, people were not happy to come out to vote, because the persons they wanted to vote for were not on the ballot.

“And it led to the result and out come of Feb.12 elections in AMAC against APC, which ruined my aspiration to become vice chairman and also to represent women in AMAC,” she said.

She said that the FCT had 62 wards and 62 counsellors, with six Chairmen and six vice, but that sadly all were males.

According to her, what this means is that with the absence of a female representation in the FCT which is the seat of power, anything that concerns women will be decided by men, which ought not to be so.

“We have 62 counsellors from the two major parties that normally wins elections in the FCT, and the two parties did not field in female candidates except in my case.

“This means that,we do not have any female representation in the whole FCT for the next three years in the six local government.

“This is sad, but we would not remain disappointed for too long, we would device means and strategies to lobby, and advocate for more space for women.

“We know that power is not given, but it is taken by force, so we would join force across party lines to ensure that women are well represented in the incoming administration across the FCT,” she said.

Essiet advocated for more internal party democracy, more internal negotiation and for the electorates to hold political parties accountable for the benefits of all.

She also appealed to the parliamentarian to look towards bills that would boost women participation in politics and give them an edge and an enabling environment for political inclusivity.