WOMEN AS CURRENCY OF HOPE

• Women mobilise grassroots support for President Bola Tinubu, writes ***RONKE BELLO **

In what was unequivocally a true “show of force” Nigeria women especially members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) drawn from all the 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT shut down Abuja on Monday 5th October, 2026 for the APC Women Stakeholders Mobilization and Empowerment Summit held under the theme “Renewed Hope Agenda 2.0: From Reforms to Prosperity”.

As convened by Nigeria’s amiable First Lady Oluremi Tinubu and organized by the APC Presidential Campaign Council’s Women Mobilisation Directorate led by Dr. Betta Edu (a former APC National Women Leader) whose energy and undeniable resolve in putting Nigerian women first is remarkable, alongside Nigeria’s dynamic and hardworking Minister of Women Affairs Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim whose undeniable passion and conviction on gender empowerment, inclusion, equality, women’s rights, protecting vulnerable groups, and advancing women’s leadership came to the fore.

The First Lady was as usual supported at the event by Nana Kashim Shettima. As witnessed, Nigeria’s First Lady has been the flagbearer for Nigerian women. She was at her best drumming up the needed push as Nigeria inches close to the National Gender Policy (NGP 2006) 35% affirmative action for women in governance.

She made it clear that women must be supported at all levels and arms of government from the grassroot to the national and from the legislature to the executive. Her presence amongst Nigerian women standing shoulder to shoulder, singing, dancing and above all reaffirming our gender’s greatness was a defining moment at the event. She, surely as a former legislator has the magic touch in politics and mobilization which is a huge plus for any political party.

The men also showed up in a show of solidarity. Their formidable team to the event was led by the Director General of the APC PCC, Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari.

The summit which aims to mobilize grassroots support for the 2027 general elections, targeting 40 million votes for President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima had other highlights which were the inauguration of the Women Directorate of The APC PCC. The collapse of all women campaign groups into one and above all it provided a huge opportunity for the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) a non-profit foundation led by Senator Oluremi Tinubu, aimed at improving family welfare across the nation’s 774 local government areas to present their score card in the areas of Economic Empowerment, Social Investment & Education, Health & Agriculture, Employment, etc., to Nigerian women.

In one of my editions of “Currency of Hope” published in major national dailies on the 27th of January, 2006 I asked “APC, Where Are The Women?” For surely, women be it the grassroot politicians or the technocrats in politics were grossly left out of formations of many previous APC committees and high – levelled appointments. This recent event staged by the women and for the women has put to a “temporary” rest to that question.

Nigerian women are certainly coming of age drawing strength from many academic research works especially that of The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2023) published after the last general elections that asserts that “while men have slightly more registered voters (around 52.5%) compared to women (around 47.5%) in Nigeria, studies and observations suggest women often show higher turnout and engagement in the actual act of voting, participating more actively in elections than men.

Also, embedding the words of Hillary Clinton that “There cannot be true democracy unless women’s voices are heard. There cannot be true democracy unless women are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives and are able to participate fully in the lives of their country.”

The former President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in her own words further declares that “Our society needs women to be more numerous in decision-making positions and in entrepreneurial areas” and according to Melinda Gates,“In the developing world, it’s about time that women are on the agenda.” We must not stop drumming up these insightful quotes to power.

Nigeria women, the APC women indeed, became the agenda and only agenda at the “Renewed Hope Agenda 2.0: From Reforms to Prosperity Summit in Abuja.As the APC Women Presidential Campaign Council prepares to hit the roads leading to every village, town, geographical zones of Nigeria the message is clear and loud; Nigerian women are present and ready to participate in providing a prosperous nation state now and for generations unborn with the One Voice, One Movement, One Choice, One Mandate Movement.

Bello, Ph.D, is an academic, public policy analyst, publicist and author.