Nwagba, Female Reps aspirant accuses PDP of Gender discrimination
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by ericjames ochigbo6 his personal assistant simply known as mr richard was also contacted but no further response could be gotten from the party at the time of publishing this story1 in an interview with the news agency of nigeria nan nwagba said she was denied the ticket to contest and represent aba northaba south federal constituency based on gender1 she faulted the primary election alleging that there were a lot of irregularities especially over voting1 nwagba said delegates were accredited and voting was done but the number of votes counted exceeded the number of accredited voters1 she said there are video clips to show that the electoral team spent hours trying to ascertain where the additional votes came from but could not1 the aspirant said her agents raised alarm drawing the attention of all the stakeholders and the general public to the development1 while i demanded that the process be stopped my opponent mr uzo azubuike was not worried about the discrepancies and wanted the process to continue1 the electoral team did not yield to my demand to discontinue the process even though they had seen the discrepancies she said1 she added that in line with the electoral guidelines she submitted an appeal along with those of the delegates before the appeal panel and until date there has been no report1 this is happening to me because i am a woman long before the election there were questions on the ability of a woman to deliver aba1 they have forgotten that this same woman fought through the courts in 2015 to regain the pdp mandate when the party lost all seats to the all progressives grand alliance apga1 in 2011 i was made to step down for this same opponent and i obeyed the party and i went to the house of assembly1 there is always a way of marginalising women even when they know that you can do it it is not fair on us imagine in the whole abia state pdp does not have any female candidate1 24 state house of assembly seats eight house of reps seats and three seats in the senate no woman is represented yet women are going to vote this is not fair she said1 nwagba said that at a time when the issue of 35 per cent affirmative action and women inclusiveness in governance were most topical it was unfair not to field a single woman1 dr blessing nwagba an aspirant in just concluded peoples democratic party pdp house of representatives primary election in abia state has accused the party of denying her the ticket because she is a woman1 nwagba said if due process was followed she would have won the election because she worked hard and did all that was required to emerge victorious1 it is not too late whoever the party says is the candidate become the candidate they should consider the plea of aba people they should consider the fact that women should be represented in governance and give me the ticket nwagba said1 she said as a foundation party-member which had delivered for the party at various levels she remains loyal to the party and confident that the pdp will do justice to the matter before it is late1 in a related development mr chukwudi dike senior special assistant to the governor of abia on sports said that since 2009 no member of aba-ngwa community had been given the opportunity to represent the constituency either at the house of reps or at the senate1 dike who led a delegation of constituents to the pdp national secretariat in abuja to register their grievances on the conduct of the primaries said that they had been dominated by non-indigenes as only people from neighbouring local government areas had occupied the seat1 he said the community supported two of its indigenes to contest in the just concluded pdp primary election but one died mysteriously after purchasing the form1 according to him the community then threw its weight behind nwagba a serving member of the abia state house of assembly to clinch the ticket but the primaries was rigged1 the way the primaries was conducted it is not acceptable to us we the constituents do not want mr uzo azubuike who lost at the polls in 20151 we are campaigning for a fresher an indigene someone with capacity and experience and one the people in the aba north and south are ready to support1 our prayers is that this ticket should be given to dame blessing nwagba an indigene and a woman with legislative experience he said1 when contacted on phone the pdp assistant publicity secretary in abia mrs love eze said she was not around at the time the election was conducted and could not comment on the matter she does not know1 when asked to recommend somebody to speak on the matter the assistant publicity secretary said blessing nwagba who reported the matter to you should tell you those who where there1 however all efforts to reach the national publicity secretary of the party mr kola ologbondiyan proved abortive1 several visits to his office met him absent and several calls and text messages to his phone were not replied1 the aspirant said women are not meant for the kitchen alone as they are equally endowed to add value to society through good governance1