I am sure you know that as women, we do a lot; before, during and after elections. And with the result of the last election we believe we need to come together once again and re-strategise and begin to think about what we need to do to move ahead politically.
We have been the ones doing so much work during elections; mobilizing, singing, clapping and all that. Once it comes to ben­efits, the women don’t really get what they deserve especially in terms of numbers. We have been advocating for 35 percent affirmative action. I am sure it was only the Jonathan administration that gave us about 13 women ministers. And then in the National Assembly we have not been able to get that number, what do we need to do? Do we still continue to follow hook, line and sinker or blindly?
So, the women are beginning to say if truly the men believe that we do so much, why can’t they, from the party level begin to change this and begin to ensure that the women get the 35 percent that they deserve. It is not about being the women leader. They can give it to a man, if a man can play the role. Let us have a very important position too that can make other women say, yes if I am in this party, I can rise to that position. Because being a woman leader, you are just there as if you are just there for the women, you don’t even contribute to most of the decision be­ing taken; one woman among how many men, just like when I was a leader of the house of Representatives, it was just one woman among 10 people. So, there is very little you can do.
We are thinking ahead. We don’t want it to be business as usual like in the past that is why we are putting up this town hall meeting. This town hall meeting will go round the six geopolitical zones of the country, sensitizing the women on the need for them to come together. And you know the congresses are coming up in March. So, we are beginning to put our heads together so that we can vote for the women.
The women will follow a woman this time around. That is exactly what we want to do.

When you come to an election you see a woman standing in to be elected, you don’t see other women giving her support. Are the women not their own problem? 
The entry of women into politics in Ni­geria you cannot say is the same as that of the men. The men have been at it for a very long time. If you look at other countries like Rwanda, Uganda, most of these countries in Africa they have employed quota system and they are getting the action. If we don’t do that we won’t get the number.
Look at the House they have 360 members, but we never had more than 24 women. Why? Because there is no quota. There should be reserved quota for the women. We form more than half of the population.
So, it is not about whether women are supporting women or not. And then when we are talking about women, we are not just saying put a woman there; put a qualified and competent woman there. We have so many women who are educated, who are competent, who can do this job even better than the men. But the men keep using one thing or the other to relegate women to the background.
Let me come to the point where you say women don’t support women, that is part of this sensation, so that they will begin to know that if you don’t be your sister’s keeper you can never get anywhere. The men will never give it to you on a platter of gold. So, why don’t we team up and wrestle it from them?
In your view how can we achieve the 35 percent affirmative action for women in politics? 

We have to do it by constitutional amend­ment. We have tried it. We have continually pushed for it; but the party can start it by saying for every office we want so, so and so number of women to contest. From there you have more people going to the House and from there you begin to increase the number of women. I am not saying this should happen now but they need to do it by constitutional amendment. For instance, the Senate, in every state there are three senatorial zones, which zone are we going to say vote for women? The three zones may not have capable women. They have to screen them and see who is better. If the woman is better than the man, then let the woman go for the seat.
Some persons saying that the performance of your party in the last election was as a result of women not giving prominent role in the campaign. Do you agree? 
Not really. A lot of things caused it (PDP loss). First and foremost, we had lack of internal democracy. Because a lot of candi­dates that emerged in some places, they are not candidates that majority of the people wanted, so people voted according to their conscience. On a larger scale too, there is the issue of the card reader.
You will agree that the card reader did not really work well in most parts of this country. That card reader issue was used to manipulate election in different places too; that I can tell you, because I contested elec­tion and I know exactly what happened in my place. For me, I will say PDP won that election. Yes! And I am sure a lot of people believe that PDP won that election, but for the card reader and other behind-the-scene things that took place.

How would the mobilization of women across the country, which your party is doing through the town hall meetings help your party regain power? 
I am sure you know the role of women when it comes to voting at least as party members. If these women are properly mobilized and sensitized and they are in support of your party, they will definitely make a difference. That is what we are say­ing. It is not just the town hall meeting that will bring the party back. But this is one of them.
How do you assess the number of women that are holding positions in this administration. We have seen only six women ministers. What does that portend? 
I will not say whether it portends any­thing, because that is not the only thing we are expecting. Let us wait and see the other positions. That is when you can really com­pare. Because when you are talking about six female ministers compared it with when Jonathan got into office initially and how he later increased the number.
We can’t be talking on ministerial positions alone. It is not the yardstick to measure the inclusion of women. But I will hope that this government will acknowl­edge the importance of women in gover­nance and allocate to us what is due.