The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, has called on women seeking elective positions in the 2027 general elections to intensify their campaigns, build strong grassroots support and establish effective strategies to safeguard their votes against electoral malpractice.
Itodo made the appeal on Monday in Abuja during an interview with journalists, where he discussed the declining participation of women in Nigeria’s political process ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Figures from a report released by Dataphyte in September showed that women accounted for 10 per cent, representing 508 of the 5,094 candidates who contested the 2023 general elections. However, the number has dropped to 9.7 per cent ahead of the 2027 polls, with only 475 women among the 4,899 candidates seeking elective positions.
Commenting on the declining representation, Itodo blamed the situation largely on the absence of internal democracy within political parties, arguing that the growing influence of party leaders over candidate selection had further restricted opportunities for women to secure nomination tickets.
“The fundamental reason there’s a decline in women participation is first lack of internal democracy within parties.
“In this particular round, we see how the National Assembly eliminated indirect primaries and most parties now adopted consensus.
“You see a complete hijack of the entire machinery for candidate nomination where party leaders are publicly making statements like, they awarded this ticket to this person or that person,’’ Mr Itodo said.
He further identified unfavourable societal perceptions of women’s leadership abilities and the increasing financial demands associated with electoral participation as significant obstacles preventing more women from entering the political space.
According to him, the persistent belief among some political stakeholders that women are less likely to win elections has influenced parties to favour male aspirants when distributing nomination tickets. He also noted that the rising cost of securing party nominations places women, particularly those with limited financial resources, at a considerable disadvantage.
“We are a society that is still struggling with women leadership. And that’s why some parties think that women are not electable; therefore, they rather have men on the tickets than to have women.
“The cost of elections is also one other factor because you have this astronomic rise in the cost of seeking party nomination.
“When you have an already financially disadvantaged segment of the society, you actually expect the current outcome,’’ he said.
Addressing possible solutions to the problem, the Yiaga Africa director stressed the importance of transparent electoral processes and stronger institutional support for female aspirants. He urged political parties to demonstrate genuine commitment to women’s political participation by providing them with the necessary resources and backing throughout the electoral process.
Itodo also maintained that credible elections were essential to improving women’s chances of winning political offices, warning that electoral manipulation could undermine their participation and prevent deserving female candidates from emerging victorious.
“I think the way out of this, for those who are on the ballot, is to continue to intensify their campaigns. Parties need to demonstrate that they are really supporting women participation by putting their resources and their support behind women.
“We also need to ensure that the elections are credible because if men manipulate elections, you’re not going to have women emerge from those elections.
“I think that this again further raises the need to look at other ways of ensuring that women representation in public office is guaranteed,’’ he said.
He specifically advised women whose names would appear on the ballot in 2027 to adopt aggressive grassroots mobilisation strategies, remain connected to their constituencies and recognise the importance of local political structures in determining electoral outcomes.
Emphasising the need for candidates to combine issue-based campaigns with effective vote protection mechanisms, Itodo warned female aspirants against assuming that their gender would not expose them to additional political challenges during the elections.
“The female candidates have to get the numbers behind them, focus more on issues, build a strong support base or watch their votes so that their votes will not be stolen.
“I don’t think that, because you’re a woman, you will not put mechanisms in place to secure your vote.
“You will be very shocked at how the men will ensure that you don’t emerge a winner in this election,’’ he said.
