Ahead of Saturday’s primary for the Cross River North Senatorial bye-election, some female aspirants on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) platform have pleaded with the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), to field a female candidate.
An aspirant to the position, Mrs Martina Odom, who spoke to newsmen on Wednesday in Calabar, ahead of the party’s Saturday’s delegates’ congress and primary election.
She said: “I appeal to the National Working Committee of our great party to be gender sensitive by picking a woman to fly the party’s flag.
“Late Sen. Rose Oko was a female, therefore, it is naturally just that a woman should take that position to complete her tenure,” she said.
Odom, who has been cleared along four others to contest the primary, said choosing a female candidate would enhance the chances of the party in the poll.
Also another female aspirant, Dr Mary Iji, said that giving the party’s flag to a female would ensure equity, justice and fair play.
“I also lend my voice to the call to the NWC to consider choosing a female as the party’s candidate in the senatorial bye-election.
“Late Sen. Rose Oko was the only female legislator from the state before her unfortunate demise.
“So, if the party takes away the ticket from women, it means that Cross River State will not have any female representative in the National Assembly. This will be unfair to the womenfolk,” Iji said.
Meanwhile, four of the five aspirants cleared for the PDP primary election have protested against the consensus delegates’ list released by the party in the state.
Speaking on the situation, one of the aspirants, Dr. Ogana Lukpata, said that the list was full of persons that were not qualified to be delegates.
“Under the party’s guidelines, three delegates are supposed to emerge from each ward based on certain criteria, but as we speak, I don’t know where they manufactured the list that has been published.
‘Even my name, an aspirant, is not on the list. All of us were asked to remain in our wards and wait for the officials.
“We waited and didn’t see anybody, only for a list to emerge as consensus delegates. The list is full of political appointees who don’t have any business being there,” he said.
According to him, they had made their grievances known to the NWC and appealed to the party hierarchy to revisit the list before the Saturday delegates congress.
