The National Women Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ms Stella Effah-Attoe, has disclosed that 250 female aspirants purchased the party’s Expression of Interest forms for the 2023 general elections.
Effah-Attoe disclosed this at a meeting she held with some aspirants at the party’s Wadata Plaza national headquarters yesterday.
She urged the women to aim at winning elections and not stop at merely participating in the exercise. The PDP women leader added that her office was already working with party leaders and stakeholders to ensure that a good number of the female aspirants emerged as the party’s candidates.
Effah-Attoe advised the aspirants to be well-prepared to face the primary elections so as not to blame the party later.
Her words: “Some of us don’t even relate with our wards, not to talk about our local government chapters, and when the bell rings to buy the forms, we just run and pick the forms.
“Politics is not practised that way; you have to prepare yourself, especially for the primary.
“I desire to leave no stone unturned to ensure that our women participate meaningfully and win elections. We have always thought about women coming out to participate.
“We have been doing that over the years we have been participating, but the issue now is coming out to win elections. This kind of meeting is unprecedented.”
The women leader also said the meeting was designed to enhance female aspirants’ approaches and methodologies as they go to the field.
The PDP former national women leader and ex-women affairs minister, Josephine Anenih, advised the aspirants to do soul-searching on whether they wanted to contest to win or just participate in the 2023 elections.
She noted that sometimes because the form was almost free, women just obtained it to bargain for something or earn the title of the aspirant and not to win elections. (NAN)