Oba of Benin Calls for Breakdown of Barriers Hindering Nigerian Women’s Political Participation

By Newswire Law & Events 

August 26, 2024

The Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, has advocated the removal of the barriers that discourage Nigerian women from participating in politics.

Ewuare made the call yesterday in Benin, when the governorship candidate of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) for the Sept. 21 election in Edo, Patience Key, paid a courtesy call to his palace.

The monarch women should no longer be relegated to the background, especially in governance due to their strength and population.

The royal father commended the leadership of the PRP for ceding its ticket to a woman, despite the ‘patriarchal and patrilineal’ structure of human society, dominated by men. He said: “A female in our society that is patriarchal and patrilineal dominated, you came out amongst all the males to contest.

“So, I commend the party, PRP, which deemed it fit to pick you as their flagbearer, recognising the strength of a woman in the scheme of things. I have always believed that women must be recognised as important, not to be suppressed to the background.”

Earlier in her address, the PRP flag bearer commended the Oba’s efforts that drastically reduced the menace of human trafficking in the ancient city and solicited prayer and blessings from the palace. She said: “I am running for the governorship because I see repression and retrogression in our great land. I am running for the governorship because I see hunger and anger. I have come to honour that call of governance.”

Key promised to leverage her wealth of experience in the world of business if given the mandate. She said that Edo people did not deserve to live in penury if the tourism sector and agricultural resources were well harnessed for productivity.