Women in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have threatened to boycott the 2023 general elections if the party failed to give them the vice president slot.
The women vowed to sit on the fence if the PDP did not, in the spirit of 35 percent affirmative action, allocate key positions to women in the next round of elections.
Speaking during the PDP Women’s Consultative Forum sponsored by the International Republican Institute (IRI) at the party’s headquarters, Abuja, on Monday, the former senator representing Adamawa South Senatorial District in the 8th Assembly, Sen. Grace Bent, vowed to mobilise PDP women whom, she said, had 50 percent of voting population to boycott the election, unless the party presented a female vice presidential candidate.
Bent said: “We are saying that in 2023, if our political party does not present a female as vice presidential candidate, we are not going to support them.
“So, set the ball rolling, all female stakeholders, females, women leaders, tell the party, give us female vice president; otherwise, we will all sit at home, we shall not vote.
“So, you have the knife in your hands by the power that the constitution has conferred on you, you must confront your governors on why you are not having six women.
“Don’t just allow the women to take ex-officio (positions) – who says you shouldn’t have an organising secretary, a local government chairman, a party chairman at the local government and at the state?
“But invariably what they will do with the 35% is to give you ex-officios who are just benchwarmers, so they don’t even invite them to meetings.
