Hundreds of women demonstrated on Friday outside the All Progressives Congress offices in Abuja, calling on Dr. Mary Alile-Idele, the National Women Leader, to step down.
During a visit to the party secretariat, Alile-Idele was charged with carelessness, pursuing personal interests, and allegedly diverting some of the 24,000 wrappers presented by Oluremi Tinubu, the First Lady, and her group.
Singing songs of unity and flying many banners that said, “Enough is Enough!” The offended women pleaded with the First Lady and National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, to remove Mary Alile for persistently undermining female party members, chanting, “Mary Alile Resign Now” and “APC Women Leader Must Go.”
Alile-Idele became the substantive national women leader after her predecessor, Dr. Betta Edu, was appointed Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (now suspended) by President Bola Tinubu.
The agitation for her removal comes barely two weeks ago when the First Lady, who was represented by Hajia Nana, the wife of Vice President Kashim Shettima, presented bales of wrappers to Alile and her state women leaders following their outcry the previous week that they had been abandoned by the president despite their contribution to his election victory.
After the donation, Ganduje warned that the women leaders should distribute the fabrics judiciously.
But the protesters led by the Coordinator of ‘Concerned APC Women’, Rebecca Sheneni, told journalists on Friday that it was as if the APC national chairman had a premonition of what would happen, alleging that only 9,000 of the 24,000 fabrics were shared.
The North Central APC member also alleged that rather than pursue a common cause for their benefit, the national women leader has been junketing all over the country promoting the agenda of a pet project in her non-governmental organisation.
She said, “We, the Concerned APC Women Group, an umbrella body for all female members of the governing APC, deem it necessary and imperative to demand the immediate resignation of Mrs Mary Alile-Idele, the National Women Leader of our party.
“We are concerned that since assuming office, Mrs Mary Alile-Idele has displayed incompetence in her role. She appears to be more focused on promoting her Non-Governmental Organisation rather than the party. This is evident in her recent travels to various states to inaugurate her NGO’s executives, instead of promoting the agenda and manifesto of our party to Nigerian women.
“Furthermore, Her Excellency the First Lady provided her with over 24,000 wrappers to distribute to Women leaders and party members, but she only distributed less than 9,000. Where are the rest? We wonder how a UK-based person with no political experience and no record of membership in our party could be considered for this exalted position.
“She prioritises her personal interests over those of the APC, leading to the nomination of her husband for appointment as a member of the University of Port Harcourt Governing Council and various party assignments.
“Considering her numerous misdeeds and misconduct, we call for her immediate removal from the position of the APC. She has demonstrated a high level of incompetence and we have had enough.”
Efforts to get the APC national women leader to react to the allegations proved abortive.
As of the time of filing this story, she has not picked up calls or responded to the SMS and WhatsApp messages sent for clarification.
However, the women leader for Imo State, Mrs Patricia Okuebor-Benson, rose to her defence, saying the allegations were not true.
According to her, virtually all their members across the various states have received their fabrics.
She said, “I am just hearing of this now because nobody told me before. As I speak, the 36 state women leaders and the FCT are in Abuja having a meeting and nobody has accused anybody of anything.
“We don’t know where these women are getting their stories from. I believe every state has received its fabrics. I really don’t know what they are talking about. I think somebody is sponsoring them.
When contacted, a former lawmaker and women leader in Lagos, Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, declined comment, saying she wasn’t aware of the development and couldn’t speak for any of her principals.
“As you can see, I am not in Abuja. I am in Lagos because there is a very important programme that I have to attend. So there is nothing I can say about it,” she pleaded.
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