News Editor
Easter is a period where Christians in Nigeria and all over the world celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – therefore it is a period for sober reflections on areas that we as individuals and as a state ought to pray to God to awaken and give life to the potpourri of problems and challenges facing Nasarawa State.
Yesterday, I read a piece by one Yakubu Lamai asking the PDP gubernatorial candidate in the 2023 election in the state to persuade women of the state who are protesting against his stolen mandate to stop. In Mr. Lamai’s mind, it is Mr. David Emmanuel Ombugadu who holds the key to “letting the women go” per ending their peaceful protests. It is important for Lamai and his sponsors to know that the protests is now beyond the control of David Emmanuel Ombugadu because Nasarawa people want justice to be done.
As students of history, we know that women protesting naked is not a new phenomenon – just as we know that whenever this happens, it is because the women know that they have been robbed and dehumanized beyond their comprehension. As a woman, I know that the glory and pride of a woman is in her nakedness and if anything pushes a woman into going naked in public, it is only sensible and just that she is given attention. Nasarawa women want the world to hear and give ear to their cry for justice and anyone asking them to stop can be likened to a person who beats a child that has not done any wrong but at the same time insisting that the child should not cry. If that is not wickedness, nothing else is.
Why are the women of Nasarawa State protesting naked? They are protesting naked because they believe that their mandate in the 2023 gubernatorial election in the state has been stolen and there is no other way for them to express their dissatisfaction than throwing away their glory and pride; which is the last resort for them. Not every woman can go naked publicly and when Nasarawa women are doing it, it speaks to the hurt and anguish they feel and want corrected.
The Constitution of Nigeria does not frown at peaceful protests and as far as this protest by Nasarawa women is concerned, it has been 100% peaceful and it would continue to be so because the PDP as a political party and it’s gubernatorial candidate in the state, Mr. David Emmanuel Ombugadu, are peace loving. However, the call to “let my people go” is beyond Mr. Ombugadu as it has now taken a life of it’s own. The women of Nasarawa want electoral justice and not even the gubernatorial candidate can stop them, even if he has the power to do so. They believe that the PDP won the 2023 election in the state and they want justice to be served. This is their prayer. Nothing more, nothing less – and not even a billion Yakubu Lamai and his sponsors can talk them out of pushing for the reclaiming of their mandate because indeed, power belongs to the people.
Happy Easter – and may the prayers of the protesting Nasarawa women and the generality of the people of the state who overwhelming voted for Mr. David Emmanuel Ombugadu and the PDP come to pass. Nasarawa State belongs to all of us, Christians and Muslims, and by God, we shall reclaim our mandate.
Beauty Aliyu
SA Public Affairs to Rt. Hon. David Emmanuel Ombugadu
