"Nigeria to have a female governor for the first time in 2019" - Senator Akwashiki

In an effort to avoid controversies after its presidential primaries, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said that it is considering the reduction of the number of its aspirants.   

Senator Patricia Akwashiki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Friday, September 7, in Abuja, expressed optimism that a female governor would emerge in Nigeria during the 2019 general elections.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Akwashiki expressed the optimism at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja.

The female lawmaker spoke with newsmen shortly after submission of her nomination and expression of interest forms to seek the party’s governorship ticket in Nasarawa.

The report said the aspirant said that despite the cultural factor affecting females, especially in the northern part of the country, she was poised to break the jinx to be the first female to be governor in Nigeria.

“I agree that it’s been a religious and cultural thing in the North. In 2015, Hajia Aisha Alhassan tried it in Taraba and she almost made it.

“I think it is possible that a woman can be a governor of any part of this country.

“I am the first female to go to the Senate, House of Representatives and the first woman to be given a minister.

“So, I think I will break that jinx and still be the first woman to become a governor in Nigeria.

“It’s not impossible. It is more cultural than religious,” she said while urging the people not to mortgage their conscience by selling their votes to money bags politicians.

The report added that Akwashiki decried Nasarawa state’s over-reliance on the federation account.

She said there was the need to harness its untapped natural resources and closeness to the Federal Capital Territory to improve its internally generated revenue.

Akwashiki said that PDP Nasarawa had learnt its lesson from the past elections and was ready to do the right thing to win in the 2019 general elections.

“We have learnt our lessons. Where we have done things with impunity, we have apologised and we are also begging people,” she said.