BEVERLY HILLS, October 21, (THEWILL) – Women in the country have been challenged to take active roles in politics and help clean-up the system instead of complaining that “politics is a dirty game.”
Former Deputy Governor of Plateau State, Dame Pauline Tallen, gave the charge Tuesday in Abuja, saying : “They said politics is dirty but with women, it can be made clean.”
Tallen was addressing young women politicians from the Northeast at a mentoring programme organised by Women in Politics Forum (WIPF) in conjunction with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
She called on the women to stop brooding over the downturn in the nation’s politics, saying they should instead come out to play a role in sanitising the system.
Maintaining that the men cannot be solely blamed for the downturn in the political system as both genders played a role in this, the former deputy governor and ex-minister urged the women in attendance not to blame the men alone for the problems in the polity.
“We should not lay the blame on the men alone, we all played a role in what Nigerian politics is today,” she insisted.
Tallen maintained that to succeed in politics, women must have the right virtues such as humility and wisdom. According to her, “The key to any successful politician, whether male or female, is to participate in every situation in their community and be sensitive to situation around them.
“You must be able to lobby your husband to support your political aspiration. If you can do this, you can lobby any other person in politics.”
Disclosing that “my husband was my role model; he was a politician and mentored me in politics,” Tallen added that “my husband was the success story in my political career, he was my pillar of strength, the family should be carried along, my husband was very important.”
She therefore urged the women to always identify with women that have quality to rule, saying if this is done, “you will find someone supporting you tomorrow if you decide to come out to contest,” adding “remember good seeds yield good fruits.”
In her remark at the occasion, the Chairperson of WIPF, Barrister Ebere Ifendu, informed the women, numbering 100, that they are the last batch in the 600 selected across the nation for mentoring as 500 had earlier been picked in the five other geopolitical zone.
“Women have been voiceless for so long, they expect us to come to rally to clap our hands and dance but we are now ready to take our rightful place in the running of our nation,” she said.
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