Date: 2014-08-25

Former senator and first daughter of the late strongman of Kwara politics, Gbemisola Rukayat Saraki at the weekend declared that she was ready to bankroll the campaign expenses of credible female aspirants vying for elective positions on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 in the state.

Saraki, a gubernatorial hopeful in the state, made this pledge in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, while receiving the 16 local government councils PDP women leaders in her country home in Ilorin.

Senator Saraki's financial assurance to the female aspirants in the PDP was based on a reaction to an earlier request by the women. The women, who were led to the meeting by the State Women leader of the PDP, Hon. Nimotah Ibrahim, had complained that despite their numbers, the male folk had relegated them to the background and had refused to accord them their deserved opportunity in the political sphere.

They said apart from the opposition from their male counterparts, most promising female aspirants over the years had been hampered by paucity of funds to purchase nomination forms and campaign during past elections. They therefore sought the intervention of Senator Gbemisola Saraki, who they referred to as a 'beacon of hope' for the over one million female population of the state.

Responding, Saraki charged the women leaders to commence immediate mobilisation of women towards the 2015 elections and beyond.

She said by forging a common front and common sense of purpose, the women would be sending a strong signal to their male counterparts that the forthcoming elections would no longer be business as usual.

She called for constant meetings of the women in clusters across the state where credible female aspirants would be identified and encouraged to participate in Kwara politics.

Earlier, Senator Saraki had donated about N1.6million to the women leaders to support their mobilisation for the ongoing INEC registration exercise. She also donated a Toyota Sienna mini bus to ease the movement of the women leaders, among others.