Ahead of the 2023 general elections, female candidates contesting for various elective positions in the States of the South-South and South-East geopolitical zones of the country, have promised to work with the media to enhance their campaigns.
The female candidates, belonging to different registered political parties in the country, disclosed this on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while speaking to journalists at the end of a two-day training workshop on how to use the media to enhance their campaigns.
The workshop was organised by the European Union (EU) in collaboration with the International Press Centre (IPC), with the overall objective to strengthen the media for fair, accurate, ethical and inclusive reporting of the electoral process.
Speaking with journalists, deputy governorship candidate of Accord Party in Rivers State, Tambari Deedam, said the two-day training programme has given her a lot of confidence on how to relate with people during and after the campaign period.
Deedam said: “The two-day training has given me a lot that I have never thought. I have been more than six months now in politics, but this training has really raised my moral and experience to a very high level. It has given me a lot of confidence that when I get back, the rate I relate with people will be very different from now.”
Speaking also, a House of Assembly candidate on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State, Ndifreke Ukem, said she has learnt how to utilise the media space and become friendly with the media.
Ukem said: “My take-home from this workshop is numerous. As a participant in this workshop, I have learnt to utilise the media space; that the media should be my friend as long as I remain a politician.
“I should not shy away from media personalities because they are the ones that will sell me to the masses. They are the ones that will make sure that my ambition is being heard everywhere. They have made me to understand that with the media, I will be able to sell in any dimension.”
On her part, Hajia Amina Mohammed, who is contesting for Calabar South Constituency 1 seat in the Cross River State House of Assembly on the platform of Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), said she will utlise what she learnt from the workshop to help herself winning the constituency election in 2023 elections.
