Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Paulen Tallen, on Monday, wept over the fate of the Chibok schoolgirls and Leah Sharibu, one of the 110 female students abducted from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Borno State.
The Minister also stated that the Federal Government was doing everything possible to secure the release of all girls held captive.
Mrs. Tallen, who stated that President Muhammadu Buhari was aware of what the abducted girls were going through, sobbed in response to a question about Leah Sharibu and the other abducted girls.
It happened in Abuja during a briefing on President Muhammadu Buhari’s scorecard (2015-2022).
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Mrs. Tallen became emotional when responding to the question about the schoolgirls, and her voice became muffled.
She later sobbed and pulled out a white handkerchief to wipe her tears.
Speaking, Mrs. Tallen said, “Leah Sharibu’s parents are not in Chibok but we made arrangements when I got there to meet me in Yola at the Air Force Base due to security reasons.
“We are doing our best. As a mother, my heart is with them. We feel for them and all Nigerian women are praying. Mr. President is mindful of what they went through. All hands must be on deck. Security issue is not just Mr. President’s issue. Neither is it only my issue, nor the minister of Information’s issue.
“Security is everybody’s business. When you see something, say something. I pray that Nigerians will be sincere enough to support our security chiefs with the right information for us to get these girls.
“I am touched as a mother. This is a season that we should show love and remember those in captivity. Our prayers are with them and I know very soon, God will release these children.”
The Minister had earlier chided all the political parties for being unfair to women on nominations for the 2023 general elections.
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She alleged that men had been “domineering and self-centred” because they don’t want to give space to women.
She continued, “Our political parties, all of them are not fair to women. It’s not that we don’t have qualified women to contest but along the way, you know everything takes place within the party structure. If you are not within the party structure in the party secretariat, you will be phased out.
“So, a lot of women that were qualified who bought forms, who we sensitised and mentored years before the election were phased out. In our country, the men are so domineering and self-centred. They don’t want to give space to women.
“But in exceptional cases where God has helped us, we have an amazon that has emerged as a governorship candidate for the first time under the ruling party (All Progressives Congress) – that is Distinguished Senator Aishatu Binani from Adamawa State.
“By the grace of God, Nigerian women will move to Adamawa State. We will show Nigerians that women support women. We will stand in solidarity with her. Not only her, we will support the women contesting for the Senate, the House of Representatives and across the lines, down to the local government levels.
“I am using this medium to call on all well-meaning Nigerian women to support one another.
“We must support the women that are contesting, the few that have emerged. If we don’t have women at the decision table, there is no way our laws can be better. We cannot have laws would suit the family.
“Whatever a woman does, she takes the interest of her children and the family at large. That is it.
“So, it’s not that women are afraid to come out and contest but they are phased out. But we will not give up. We’ll keep encouraging them. We’ll keep pushing until one day that dream will come true,” Mrs. Tallen said.