The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammad Buhari, has openly declared war on the Nigerian women. In line with his well-known chauvinistic and anti-women stance, Buhari had boasted a few days ago that if elected he will abolish the office of the First Lady of Nigeria.
In whichever way Buhari’s declaration is interrogated, it runs against good reasoning and commonsense. First, the Office of the First Lady is not recognised by the Nigerian Constitution and therefore any attempt to abolish it (what does not really exist in the eyes of the law) can only be an exercise in futility.

Second, and more germane, is the fact that the Office of the First Lady although not recognized in the Constitution, has become functional as a matter of convention and tradition in a presidential democracy the world over. Through the instrumentality of this office, real life issues and problems that may escape the attention of the three arms of government are taken care of with a motherly touch ever so needed in society.

No wonder, in almost every political system, the first lady is regarded as the mother of the nation. And given that fact, there is no male president no matter how strong and tough he may be projected to be in the public that would not be better off with the advice of a good wife and the calming touch of a female partner.

Through the Office of the First Lady, women and children, the most vulnerable in the society especially during the period of crisis and emergency, are give voice and attention in government. Through this symbolic office, charity, good and noble causes are pursued in the interest of the poorest, weakest and the voiceless in society. Who wants to deny the Nigerian women, especially, the less privileged, these opportunities because of his own hatred and disrespect for women?

General Buhar’s position on the Office if the First Lady cannot be justified on any other ground other than the known fact that he holds women in unspeakable disdain! There is no budgetary allocation to the first lady’s office and, therefore, it cannot be accused of draining public funds. And if, in spite of this fact, General Buhari and his party threaten to abolish the office, which gives women visibility and feel-good factor in government, then the womenfolk must ask Buhari and APC why they hate Nigerian women this much?

It should by now be clear to all that APC is particularly not women-friendly; and, as such, not happy with the giant strides and the rising profile of women in President Goodluck Jonathan’s government. The thirty per cent affirmative action for women in the PDP government has increased effectively the participation of women in the governance and development of our country. And our country has been better for it because no nation in the whole wide world has been known to develop by shutting out a critical segment of its population. All the while, the APC has done its best to single out the women in Jonathan’s cabinet like Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who is giving her best to this nation for unwarranted hostility and clobbering.

Buhari and his party, in line with their retrogressive ideology, want to reverse the gains the nation has made in the area of participation of women in the politics and governance of our country. They do not want our women who are distinguishing themselves across the globe to be seen and heard. Buhari and APC still reckon women simply as primitive sex objects without rights; and deficit in knowledge. They have already said more than that by promising to abolish the symbolic office of the first lady.

But this is the time for Nigerian women to rise and tell this party that has no iota of respect for the women folk that our country has moved on and has no place for any group of male chauvinists influenced by an anti-women ideology. It is time to show Buhari and APC the ‘woman power’ at the polls!

http://www.opinions.ng/general-buharis-war-against-women/

An average Muslim male is chauvinistic by default.

what a man says is not far from what he has done or will do again..
the first time he ruled niigeria as a military head of state he did NOT appoint a single woman;

check the cabinet list then:


Muhammadu Buhari (born December 17, 1942) was a Major General in the Nigerian Army and a former military ruler of Nigeria from December 31, 1983 to August 27, 1985. The term Buharism is ascribed to the Buhari military government. He also ran unsuccessfully for the office of the President of Nigeria in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 elections. His ethnic background is Fulani, and his faith is Islam; he is a native of Daura in Katsina State of Nigeria.


Buhari's Cabinet Ministers
OFFICE NAME TERM

Head of State Muhammadu Buhari 1984–1985
Chief of Staff Tunde Idiagbon 1984–1985

Defense Domkat Bali 1984–1985

Agriculture Bukar Shuaib 1984–1985

Trade Mahmud Tukur 1984–1985

Communications A Abdullahi, Lt Col 1984–1985

Education Yarima Ibrahim 1984–1985

Finance Onaolapo Soleye 1984–1985

Abuja Mamman Jiya Vatsa 1984–1985

Health Emmanuel Nsan 1984–1985

Internal Affairs Mohammed Magoro 1984–1985

Foreign Affairs Ibrahim Gambari 1984–1985

Minister of Information Sam Omeruah 1984–1985

Transportation Abdullahi Ibrahim 1984–1985

Energy Tam David-West 1984–1985

Justice Chike Offodile 1984–1985

Works Patrick Koshoni 1984–1985




http://www..com/ng/in-nigeria/40607-list-of-ministers-in-muhammadu-buhari-regime.html

When Jonathan came he gave women a voice here the role call;

…The leading women in the administration are Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, GCON – Chief Justice of Nigeria; Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, CFR – Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance; Diezani Alison-Madueke (Mrs.), CON – Minister of Petroleum Resources; Mrs. Omobola Johnson – Minister of Communication Technology; Mrs. Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafa – Minister of Environment; Hajia Zainab Maina, MFR – Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development; Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochekpe – Minister of Water Resources; Princess Stella Oduah, OON – Minister of Aviation; and Lady Amal Pepple, CFR – Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.

Others are Professor (Mrs.) Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, OON – Minister of Education; Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide – Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FCT); Hajia Zainab Ibrahim Kuchi – Minister of State for Power; Erelu (Dr.) Olusola Obada – Minister of State for Defence; and Professor (Mrs.) Viola Onwuliri – Minister of State (1) for Foreign Affairs

The women in diplomacy are Prof. Joy Ogwu, Ambassador/Perm. Rep. of Nigeria to the UN; Mrs. Amina Mohammed, Special Adviser to the UN Sec Gen on Post-2015 Development Planning; Hajia Salamatu Hussaini Seleiman, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security; and Dr. Aisha Laraba Abdulahi, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/all-the-presidents-women-the-tale-of-a-paradigm-shift/

women women women and indeed all nigerias beware

may the struggles of our women not end in the kitchen

and by the way woman have contributed so much to national growth