A coalition of civil society organisations in Ekiti State has called on political parties to create a fair and inclusive environment that will enable more women to contest and emerge as candidates in the 2027 state and National Assembly elections.
The coalition, which is advocating increased women’s political participation, expressed concern over what it described as the persistently low representation of women in leadership positions despite Nigeria’s commitment to inclusive governance and the 35 per cent affirmative action policy for women.
In a statement issued on Friday in Ado Ekiti and signed by representatives of 20 civil society organisations, the groups urged political parties in the state, through the Inter-Party Advisory Council, particularly the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to take deliberate steps toward improving women’s political representation.
They called on parties to institutionalise transparent and inclusive candidate selection processes and publicly commit to achieving the 35 per cent affirmative action benchmark for women across Senate, House of Representatives, and State Assembly elections.
The statement read in part, “We therefore call on all political parties in Ekiti State to institutionalise clear and inclusive guidelines for candidate selection, including where consensus arrangements are adopted, set, and publicly commit to the 35 per cent affirmative action targets for women’s representation across Senate, House of Representatives, and State Assembly candidatures.”
The groups also urged political parties to ensure that their internal processes are free from discrimination, intimidation, and exclusion, stressing that inclusive participation is critical to strengthening democracy.
According to the coalition, increasing women’s representation in the Ekiti State House of Assembly from the current 23 per cent to 35 per cent is a democratic necessity rather than a symbolic aspiration.
“A political system that systematically restricts women’s access at the point of entry undermines not only gender equality, but the legitimacy of governance itself,” the statement added.
The CSOs encouraged women across the state to actively participate in politics and seek elective offices, saying their leadership remained essential to the future of democracy in Nigeria.
They maintained that the credibility of the 2027 elections would not only depend on the outcome of the polls but also on how inclusive the electoral process is from the candidate selection stage.
The coalition noted that women are often sidelined during political negotiations, consensus arrangements, and power-sharing discussions, particularly in contests for Senate and House of Representatives seats.
It stressed that political parties remain the primary gatekeepers of democratic participation and warned that excluding women during nomination processes compromises democracy before elections are even conducted.
The organisations further argued that Nigeria’s constitution guarantees every citizen the right to vote and be voted for, adding that such rights must be reflected in practice and not merely exist in principle.
“The time has come for intentional inclusion and meaningful representation of women in politics, beyond symbolic gestures and tokenism,” the statement said.
Among the organisations in the coalition are the Coalition of CSOs on Women’s Political Participation in Ekiti State, the Women Political Participation Working Group, and the New Generation Girls and Women Development Initiative.
Others include the Balm in Gilead Foundation for Sustainable Development, Ekiti Women Arise, Gender Mobile Initiative, Foundation for Excellent Living and Development, Disability Not a Barrier Initiative, Media for Human Development Foundation, and the International Federation of Women Lawyers.
