Niger Delta Women Accuse Tinubu’s Minister Of Anti-Party Activities

Niger Delta women under the aegis of the women’s wing of the Niger Delta Rights Advocates (NDRA), have accused the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkiruka Onyejiocha, of engaging in activities that are contrary to the programmes and objectives of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The women, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Friday, accused Onyejiocha of running around the Courts to ensure she finds her way back to the House of Representatives.

The statement, which was signed by the group’s national woman leader, Clara Nkwocha, and the welfare officer, Gloria Kagbara, said the women were disappointed at this self-serving agenda aimed only at destabilising the leadership of the House of Representatives.

It called on the national leadership of the APC to call the minister to order to cease from sponsoring Court cases that are injurious to the party and capable of dragging the name of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu through the mud.

The statement reads in part: “The Niger Delta Rights Advocates (NDRA) remains an intellectually mobile and patriotic organisation birthed in the year 2000 to trumpet the need for the rights of our indigenous people to be protected and their dignity as humanbeings, respected by all legally established institutions through very legitimate means.

“Having trudged on for these number of years and have effectively survived the roadblocks and artificial impediments mounted by anti-democratic forces, we have never deterred from advocacy based on our conviction that our group must lead from the front by examplarily choosing to fight for an egalitarian society devoid of gender, tribal, ethnic or religious biases as enshrined in Chapter Two of the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

“Recall that our organisation had issued a communique on August 26th 2023 on a potpori of issues which included the vexed issue of appointing and recycling persons very well known in the nine states that make up the Niger Delta region, as poli-preneurs into Cabinet as Ministers.

“As if we knew that today would come, some of such individual who has not settled down to design a roadmap to end the incessant trade disputes witnessed in the country which her Ministry should be proferring solutions/ tackling, is Nkiruka Onyeojacha (Minister of State, Labour).

“NDRA Women Wing is alarmed at the haste with which Minister Onyeojacha is running around the Courts to ensure she finds her way back to the House of Representatives for a futitious journey to represent her selfish interest and not that of her constituents by ensuring the destabilization of the House Leadership and by extension becoming a cog in the wheel of progress of the Tinubu administration.

“One of the reasons for the agitations by civil society organisations in this country for the implementation of the 35% Affirmative Action for Women, is simply to ensure greater visibility for the women folk and not to diminish it.

“Now, our calculation is that a paltry 19.5% of Mr President’s cabinet Ministers are women, what then is the logic behind one of the women sponsoring court cases from behind inorder to destabilize her own party the APC and lose that Ministerial slot with the dream of returning to the House of Representatives to become Speaker of Parliament?

“The Women Wing of the NDRA are disappointed in this self-serving agenda aimed only at destabilizing the House leadership and throwing a spanner to the works given the comradarie, partnership and mutual respect existing between the Speaker Tajudeen Abbas led House of Representatives and the Executive arm of government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR.

“Our call is on the National Leadership of the APC to call the Minister of State for Labour to order to cease from sponsoring Court cases that are injurious to the party and capable of dragging the name of Mr President through the mud.

“Hon Onyejeocha’s actions by our calculations is aimed at creating unnecessary tension between the people of the South-East and the Northwest who were rightfully (based on number of votes delivered to the party, ceded the Speakership position), thus, dreaming to alter the existing political algorithm between the North and South based on the fact that the South already has the Presidency and the Senate Presidency.

“Furthermore, we view the desperation of Hon Onyejeocha to return to the House of Representatives as gamble taken too far since we all believe that she should have been contented with a Ministerial position magnanimously given to her by Mr President.

“Our concern as women is the fact that this might cast a shadow of doubt on the loyalty, integrity and consistency of women from our region as greedy fellows and we are not, thus, the need for this public statement.

“We rather do believe that Mr President and indeed the party should look into allowing space for more women to contribute to national development as we reason that as good home managers, we can help cut down the cost of governance and offer greater accountability in public service.

“We appeal for more women to be considered for appointments into Boards, Agencies and Parastals of Government despite this disingenuous and harmful crab mentality of Hon

Onyejeocha.”