Staff Writer
‘Elected Female National APC Officers and Zonal Women Leaders’ have issued a ‘vote of no confidence’ in the party’s national women leader, Dr. Beta Edu, for allegedly abusing her position.
A petition sent to President Bola Tinubu on Friday included the rejection of the ministerial candidate.
“Without straying from the core of this subject, it is pertinent we express our total displeasure and concern over the misrepresentation and self-aggrandizement of the National Woman leader, Dr. Beta Edu during her visit to the Presidential Villa on the 13th of July, 2023,” the petition’s signatories wrote.
We want to make it clear and unambiguously clear that her visit to the presidential villa was a fabrication as she in no way reflect the party’s elected national women officials and zonal women leaders, contrary to the rumors spreading.
“We were completely ignorant of her presidential visit, and neither the women she claimed to represent during her visit nor any proper information or notification were provided to us. It is disappointing that Dr. Beta Edu, even without their knowledge or their presence during the visit, could claim that her meeting with Mr. President represented national stakeholders and zonal women leaders.
“It is concerning that the women’s leadership of the party is already going through division and exclusion in representation, which has been the pattern of the National Woman Leader Beta Edu since her emergence, at this early stage of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which needs all hands on deck. We reject her, and we reject her firmly as a result of her failure to effectively manage the party’s female members.
The letter, a copy of which was provided to our correspondent, was also delivered to the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the National Secretary, Iyiola Omisore, the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, the First Lady’s office, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the Vice President’s wife, Hajia Nana Shettima, all APC governors’ wives, and the zonal vice chairs of the party.
Nine female leaders from each of the six geopolitical zones signed the petition, which accused Betta of excluding them and arranging for some allegedly false women to meet the president during a courtesy visit.
APC Deputy National Treasurer Omorede Osifo, National Ex-Officio Olubunmi Oriniowo, National Ex-Officio Oluwatoyin Opawoye, Zonal Women Leaders Princess Zahra Audu (North Central), Mrs. Yetunde Adesanya (South-West), and Mimi Diyiokeh (South-East) are among the women leaders who signed the petition.
Others were Hajia Hadiza Shagari, the Zonal Women Leader for the North-West, Zainab Alman, the Zonal Women Leader for the South-South, and Mrs. Cynthia Princewill.
The women leaders further claimed that the former Cross River commissioner of health purposefully segregated them even throughout the electioneering campaign while asking for a separate courtesy visit to the presidential villa.
“Dr. Betta Edu worked alone, without coordination with her colleagues’ National Women officials from the party and Zonal Women leaders, during the electioneering campaign. Due to our strong commitment to the Renewed Hope project, of which we are proud to be a part of the success story of today, we each developed means and strategies to inspire and mobilize support for the party in our various states, and we traveled to almost all states to campaign with Mr. President.
“We want Mr. President to know that the majority of the women Dr. Betta Edu exhibited were false. In the visit to the President, fake women were in place of legitimate, democratically elected national officers, including members of the National Executive Council, all zonal women leaders, the three female senators, the fifteen female members of the House of Representatives, and a number of other relevant women leaders and stakeholders.
We unanimously reject Dr. Betta Edu’s leadership and express our disapproval of everything she stands for. In order to promote inclusivity, we implore Mr. President to use his good offices to give the elected national female executives and zonal women leaders of our great party a hearing.
Edu rejected the APC zonal women leaders, calling them fraudulent, in response to the accusation.
They don’t have female leaders. They are con artists. I can let you know that the female governors of the 36 states have written to disown them.
“The president and the women governors of the 36 states met, as they were mentioning. Except for one, they were all present for the meeting. No media outlet should run this idiotic story, in my opinion. It is a scam. You are aware that people are hustling everywhere.
The national women’s head of the APC also pledged to send our reporter an official denial of the charge.
As of the time this report was filed, she had not yet sent the rebuttal.
