THE Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) has applauded the resilience of women who participated in the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections.
The group said despite the challenges recorded at the polls, the election witnessed “the resilience of many Nigerians, especially women who participated as voters, poll officials and candidates”.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, March 1, NWTF said it deployed 400 accredited observers across seven states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with spread across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones through the Gender and Election Watch (GEW) Room, one of its initiatives.
The Chief Executive Officer of GEW Room, Mufiliat Fijabi who noted this at the post-election conference, said “Nigerian women are resilient and committed to a truly democratic process”.
She added that women’s participation in the democratic process of Nigeria “is critical to achieving a truly inclusive democratic process”.
However, Fijabi said NWTF was worried about reports of violence experienced by some female candidates and the electorates.
“We condemn it in a very strong terms while calling upon relevant security agencies to take action to forestall future occurrence”.
“GEW recommends stringent security measures to protect female candidates and full application of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (2015) on all perpetrators of acts of violence”, she said.
Speaking on the conduct of the 2023 general election, Fijabi said “delay in opening of polls, pockets of disruption and the untimely upload of results on the IREV remain strong concerns for Nigeria’s democracy”.
While acknowledging efforts of the Independent National Electoral Commission – INEC, she said “we ask for stronger efforts to consolidate on the gains made so far in the Nigeria’s electoral space and to continue to guarantee Nigerian that their votes truly count”.
Sinafi Omanga works as a multimedia and investigative reporter at the International Centre for Investigative Reporting - ICIR. He has a keen interest in accountability, health and environmental issues.
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@OmangaSinafi
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somanga@icirnigeria.org