The wife of the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Martha Udom Emmanuel has vowed that women in the state would resort to prayers and won’t back down until the gender bills were passed into law.
She said this would be done in solidarity with the recent protest embarked upon by women at the National Assembly gate on Wednesday last week.
Speaking in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area during the International Women’s Day celebration on Sunday at Apostolic Church Ikot Abia Edem, the First Lady said women would continue to fight until the needful was done.
She said, “On the rejection of the proposed bill by the National Assembly to give women 35 per cent of affirmative action, we are saying not so. We are going to join our voices together and speak in one voice that women should be given a chance. We have all that it takes to be in the position of authority. Our governor and so many governors have done that. We want it to be signed into law so that generations upon generations would not temper with that, but, shockingly, the national assembly decided not to consent to the bill. We shall fight for it. The whole world has come to the knowledge that women cannot be toyed with and Nigeria cannot be exempted. We are going to pray unto God for Him to touch the hearts of those legislators that voted against the bill and I have confidence that they will finally agree to do it.”
The governor’s wife charged women to continue to unite and speak with one voice for inclusive leadership in the country, calling on the Federal Government to see the need for including more women in the political podium of the nation.
In her opening remark, the commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare Dr Ini Adiakpan commended the First Lady l for always celebrating women.
Dr Adiakpan stated that on a day like this, women across the state must in one spirit celebrate the governor’s wife in return for her quality leadership.