Career women lately have taken the upper hand in securing powerful appointments or positions in Imo State.
Governor Hope Uzodimma seems to be tilting towards women to hold major positions, despite the dominance of the menfolk in the political landscape of the State, particularly in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
The jostle for the position of the governor’s Running Mate for the November 11, Imo State governorship election, was intense and fierce, as major allies, friends, associates of the governor and party stakeholders had scrambled for the position.
In the long run, a woman and little known in the political circle in the State, Mrs Nnedima Ekomaru, wife of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Chukwuma Ekomaru, was nominated by the governor as his Running Mate.
Her nomination, though the prerogative of the governor, had attracted criticisms from some aggrieved Imo APC stakeholders, who had expected that the governor’s Running Mate for the November polls, should be a core party chieftain and politician rooted in the political dynamics of the State.
Mrs Nnedimma, is a lecturer at Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, AIFCE, and it is not known if she has any political experience, except her husband, who was a one time governorship aspirant and former Commissioner in the State.
The Ministerial slot of Imo State in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, was gotten by another woman, Mrs Dorris Uzoka Anite, the current Commissioner of Finance in the State.
Contrary to speculations that top chieftains of the party in the state were expected to get the position as a reward for their loyalty and steadfastness to the party, Mrs Uzoka, a career banker, eventually emerged the ministerial nominee for the State.
She is among seven women who made the 28 Ministerial nominees sent to the Senate for screening and clearance by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Other career women from other states nominated by the President for ministerial positions include; Mrs Bette Edu, Barr Hannatu Musawa, Hon Nkechi Onyejocha, Hon Stella Okotette and Hon Uju Kennedy Ohaneye.
A chieftain of the party in the State who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, alleged that little consideration is given to party loyalists when it comes to high profile appointments in the State, while women who are not neck deep in the affairs of the party are rewarded.
“These two appointments- Running Mate and Ministerial slot- were not rooted from the party. Party loyalists deserve reward.
“And when I say party loyalists, I mean those who have put in their toil and broil in the party. Those who have sacrificed for the party since its inception and were even attacked for being a member of the APC” he stated.
However, Mr Evans Anukam, another chieftain of the APC in the state, said the appointment of career women from the State is certainly in order, arguing that there is no way any person-man or woman- would get such high profile appointments without being a member of the ruling party, APC.
“I must say that Party loyalists in Imo State have been adequately rewarded by this government. Over 300 Special Advisers were recently appointed by the governor.
“They are all party loyalists being rewarded in one way or the other. We need to encourage our career women and they deserve to be supported to attain Olympian heights” he concluded.
