Women Arise, a women-oriented activism group has refuted allegations by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that it has an alliance with the ruling Labour Party in the State.
Women Arise, a women-oriented activism group has refuted allegations by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) that it has an alliance with the ruling Labour Party in the State.
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The ACN had suggested that the purported alliance puts the group in position to act in favor of the sitting Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, in monitoring the forthcoming gubernatorial election.
In a statement signed by the president of the group, Dr. Joe-Okei Odumakin, Women Arise said the claims by the ACN through its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, was a campaign by the party to disparage women as dependent constituents.
Mrs. Okei-Odumakin also accused Mohamed of double standards, pointing out that a group known as Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform [CODER], which was reportedly de-accredited to monitor the governorship in Ondo State was founded and funded by the ACN party leadership, while the party accuses other groups of political affiliation without providing any proof.
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Okei-Odumakin further dismissed the view that the opinion of her husband, Mr. Yinka Odumakin in favor of the ruling Labour Party in the State dictates the activities of the Women Arise, over which she presides.
“In twenty four hours, Alhaji Mohammed has issued two statements against us repeating the same baseless and puerile allegations against our organization,” she said. “In what has become a special forte of Alhaji Mohammed, one set of rules for ACN and a different one for others, the ACN spokesman's only allegation against Women Arise is that the group cannot be independent because the hubby of the president has expressed his personal opinion.”
In an earlier statement by the ACN through its spokesperson, the party alleged that the Election Monitoring and Observation Unit of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) colluded with the Labour Party to de-accredit CODER from among other independent observers to monitor the much anticipated governorship election in Ondo State.
Mr. Mohammed also suggested that CODER was replaced with Women Arise in the election observers list as part of a strategy the ACN said it suspected to be to aid the Labour Party in manipulating the elections.
Mrs. Odumakin rejected those claims, saying the ACN lacked evidence to link her group to the ruling party, stressing that the said CODER which was reportedly de-accredited by INEC’s Election Monitoring Unit was a group formed and funded by the leadership of the ACN.
The ACN spokesman had also suggested that a declaration by Dr. Okei-Odumakin’s husband, Yinka Odumakin, and the vice-presidential candidate of the Congress for Political Change (CPC) in the 2011 election, Pastor Tunde Bakare in favor of Governor Mimiko, was an indication of collaboration which may have influenced Women Arise.
“The partisanship of Women Arise as far as the Ondo election is concerned is glaring as the group is led by Dr. Joe-Okei Odumakin, wife of Mr. ‘Yinka Odumakin who has publicly declared his support for Governor Olusegun Mimiko in the forthcoming elections,” Alhaji Mohammed said. “Mr. Odumakin is also a known ally of Pastor Tunde Bakare who has also declared his support for the incumbent governor.”
Refuting that claim, Mrs. Okei-Odumakin said it was disrespectful to women for the ACN’s spokesperson to assume that the opinion of her husband would dictate the group’s mandate.
“It only shows that Alhaji Mohammed and whatever he represents still have a stone-age view of women as chattels who are to be used without independent thoughts and actions. And perhaps to be kept in purdah!” she said.
She described as “puerile and crude” the implication that the opinion of the husband of its president dictates its mandate as such a view can only be held by those who carry a low opinion of womenfolk and see them as cheer leaders who should have a few Naira notes thrown at after they have been used for election campaigns.
She stated that her group has been participating in elections monitoring for a while, and that in the last presidential election which Pastor Bakare’s CPC lost, the group observed elections in 18 States including Ondo, but that the CODER had not participated in one before.
She also denied allegations by Lai Mohammed that Women Arise always collects money to join protests, counter-alleging that it is Alhaji Mohammed’s party that gives money to protesters.
Okei-Odumakin described the ACN spokesperson as acting like a wounded lion because CODER, a formation by his party’s leadership, was de-accredited from monitoring the election coming up in the State.
“The group participated freely in the first protest on Salami when it thought that it was an altruistic cause but declined in a second protest having gotten the full facts of the unholy alliance,” she said, adding, “Perhaps it is Mohammed and his people who should explain why they were "hiring" people to protest if they had no more than ordinary relationship with Salami.”
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