Miriam Onuoha Urges Tinubu To Make Government Inclusive; Asks Male Contestants To Step Down

Miriam Onuoha disclosed her ambition to run for the Office of Speaker in the upcoming 10th National Assembly, which will be inaugurated in June this year. She urged all the male contestants to step down to help her win, considering she is the first female running for speakership race.

Onuoha is currently representing Okigwe North Federal Constituency in the House and disclosed her ambition to be the first female to bid for the Office of Speaker on Wednesday in Abuja.

During the conference, PDP's Emeka Chinedu, APC's Abdulkadir Abdullahi, new members-elect and members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council were present alongside Onuoha.

Onuoha took the occasion to make a formal announcement of her intention to run for the Office of Speaker and urged the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to select a female speaker.

"President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a he-for-she who has always empowered women in all spheres of life, electing and supporting a female speaker will become another test for him driving 35% affirmative action as well as an action plan towards the implementation of the national gender policy," Onuoha said, PersecondNews reported.

Onuoha noted that all positions in Nigeria have been dominated by men and "seeding this one position" to her will prove that Tinubu is running an "inclusive government."

"I use this opportunity to call on my male contestants to consider the love and the care Nigerian voters have shown to them and as a mark of honor step down," she continued. "I call on the male contestants to step down in the interest of peace and understanding."

Onuoha is House Committee Chairperson on Disability and helped remove discrimination against persons with disabilities.

She assured that considering her track record and the service she has provided, she is a "service-driven leader who understands citizen's considerations and participation is what Nigeria truly needs with the view to proffering microeconomic solutions to the nation's economy."

Onuoha noted that she is running the speaker race to ensure that there are fresh ideas and pragmatic solutions introduced to resolve the current challenges in the country.

"This demonstrates clear underrepresentation of women in political life; most importantly it also shows the lack of internal party policies to support and promote the inclusion of women," she added. "Let me also remind you that it is up to 40 years since Nigeria signed up to the United Nations Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women."

There is more than 10 Office of the Speaker aspirants including Deputy Speaker Ahmed Wase, Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria Alhassan Doguwa, Chairman of the House Committee on Navy Yusuf Gagdi, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, House Committee on Science Research Institutes Olaide Akinremi, House of Representatives Committee on Land Transport Tajudeen Abbas, Chairman of House Committee on Appropriations Aliyu Betara, Chairman of the House Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Abdulraheem Olawuyi and Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Makki Yalleman and Sani Jaji.

President-elect Bola Tinubu will be in power after President Muhammadu Buhari will step down from his position next month.