The Women President-General of the Ebenebe Town Union in the Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Favour Nworah, narrates the circumstances leading to her removal to IKENNA OBIANERI
Recently, the women in your community protested over your removal as their leader and this led to a crisis, could you recount what actually happened?
As the Women President-General of Ebenebe Town Union, when we had our meeting on March 5, 2023, I announced to them that my first tenure, which started on April 11, 2019, would end in April 2023 and I would seek re-election. Our by-laws and constitution allow that. I asked them to start preparations on how we would elect the next leaders. After a series of meetings, we started planning the election and a date was fixed, after which I went to the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Ify Obinabo, to pay the fees and officially notified her of the election so that the ministry would come and observe it.
What was the money meant for?
It was the money a community was supposed to pay to the government to be allowed to conduct an election. N70,000 was paid to the ministry, N10,000 to the women’s wing of the Anambra State Association of Town Unions and N10,000 to the local government. Then I wrote officially to the ministry and copied our traditional ruler and the men’s president-general, Chukwudi Okonkwo, and April 13 was chosen for us to conduct the election. We also wrote to them to come and observe the election, but they refused.
What led to the crisis and why did they refuse to observe the election?
It was because they imposed a caretaker government on the women. The problem started when a few days before the election, the president-general of the men’s wing called me and said they had been mandated by the state government to organise our election and choose the leaders the governor wanted for us. I told him that was not what our by-laws prescribed, that our laws said they would only come and observe and not choose leaders for us. I insisted that we must conduct the election according to our by-laws. That was when he announced to me that the government had removed me as the women president-general and a caretaker leadership had been installed.
Was the action in accordance with the rules of engagement?
No, it was because they had an evil agenda. The cabal knew quite well that the women had by-laws guiding the conduct of their election, but they were just hell-bent on imposing someone on us and the person they have imposed on us is not part of us and does not attend our meetings. They said there were several petitions against me before the governor.
What were the petitions all about?
When a petition was eventually sent to me, it had the signature of the person whom they forced on us as the interim women leader, together with that of the men’s president-general. They claimed that I did not work for the governing All Progressives Grand Alliance and that I wore Labour Party shirts during the general elections, including posing at political events attended by the presidential candidate of the party, Mr Peter Obi; the LP candidate for Awka North House of Assembly election, Mr Ferdinand Onwujeh, and others. But after some days, my executive members and I were invited to a meeting, where the men’s president-general insisted that I was just an appointee, whom the government could remove at any time it wished. But the women told him it was not true, that I was duly elected and could not be removed by anybody. However, because they were hell-bent on forcing someone on us in order to manipulate us, he insisted that I had been removed, which the women vehemently protested against. On April 12, I got a call from our traditional ruler telling me that the commissioner for women’s affairs had instructed that our election would no longer hold and that a caretaker administration had been installed because I worked for the candidates of the Labour Party during the elections.
What political party do you belong to and is it true that you worked for candidates of the Labour Party?
I have been an APGA member, but the fact is that I worked for the candidate of the Labour Party during the state House of Assembly election, Ferdinard Onwujeh, who is my husband. Before the election, the governor warned that we should work for all APGA candidates, but the reason I did not work for the APGA candidate for the state House of Assembly election was because he did not recognise nor gave the Ebenebe women group their due respect. He did not reckon with us; we have eight communities. He did not come to us; how can you now work for someone who did not recognise you or knew you existed? Whenever he wanted to use women during the election, he went through the women president-general of another community. You can imagine that. What that meant was that he felt he did not need us to prosecute his election.
Don’t you think the APGA candidate snubbed you and your members because of your husband, who was his opponent in the Labour Party?
I cannot say. Before the APGA primaries, we were on good terms. Even when he visited the Awka North women’s wing, of which I am the founder, he never visited the women in Ebenebe. If you were the one, what would you have done? I cannot work for somebody that does not want me. But I am an APGA member. During the 2021 governorship election in Anambra State, I worked for APGA and Prof Chukwuma Soludo. I spent my time and money. I visited the 14 wards in the Awka North LGA to campaign for Soludo. Even when IPOB said no one should do any campaign, I did a door-to-door campaign and visited all the women to come out and vote. I used my money to do that.
Is your position for politics or is it affiliated to a particular political party?
It is not supposed to be mixed with politics and it is not affiliated to any political party. As individuals, you are free to belong to any political party. The women’s group is purely for community service, development and bringing women together. We always emphasise it that politics and religion should not be brought into the group as stated in our by-laws, but because of their pecuniary motive, they want to hijack it for their selfish interests. In the community, women are free to belong to different political affiliations or religious groups.
Who organised the protest?
The women from all eight communities organised the protest. Imagine, they accused me of working for the Labour Party during the elections, but the woman they have imposed on us is the women leader of the All Progressives Congress in Ebenebe Ward 3. The member-elect took the woman to the commissioner for women affairs where they endorsed her as the choice of the government. Based on this, the women in the eight villages in the community first visited the commissioner to let her know that they were not in support of the move, but the commissioner told them to go back that there was nothing they could do because they had made the woman our leader, being the person the government wanted and someone who would work for the governor. The women wanted to protest that day, but I stopped them from protesting and thereafter, they marched to the Government House and submitted a letter to officially notify the governor of the development. The women also submitted letters to the ASATU and the Ministry of Homelands and Chieftaincy. Then, the day the commissioner for women affairs officially inaugurated the interim government, the women protested against it by telling her that there was no conflict or division among us, hence, no reason whatsoever to impose a caretaker leader on us. The commissioner still insisted that there was nothing they could do, that the matter was above them and that the state government could put whosoever it wanted as the leader. Based on this, the women protested to express their grievances.
Do you think the governor is aware of this development?
They said the governor saw my pictures during the elections, that I was campaigning for the candidates of the Labour Party and that I wore LP uniform, and based on that, I should be removed as the women president-general. That was why they stopped our election and imposed a caretaker government in order to prevent me from seeking re-election. They accused me of anti-party activities. What is anti-party activity when politics is not mixed with our affairs? I supported my husband, who contested under the LP.
Is being an APGA member part of the requirement to contest or hold the position of women community leader?
No. It is not part of the prerequisites. Anybody can lead the group provided she is duly elected according to our constitution.
How do you want this issue to be resolved?
All that the women are calling for is for the governor to direct that we conduct our election according to our constitution and by-laws. It is not in their powers to impose any caretaker government on us when we are not in crisis. In addition, these people involved have been threatening us in order to stampede us into accepting their bidding, but we say no. The woman they imposed on us is not a member of the women group. The leadership of Ebenebe Town Union (men wing) is also having a hand in the crisis and we urge them to back out to avoid creating a crisis among their wives.
