Lagos market women march for Tinubu, last Monday
Group condemns forced participation of Lagos market women to march for Tinubu
Rights group, the Nigeria for Good Governance (NFGG) has demanded an apology from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to market women in Lagos over allegations that the ruling party forced the traders to participate in a rally to show support for the Presidential ambitions of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Asiwaju Tinubu, a former Governor of Lagos State, is the Presidential candidate of the APC in the 2023 General Elections.
Allegations were rife that market women trading in the state were coerced by the Iyaloja of Lagos, Alhaja Folashade Tinubu-Ojo , who is also daughter of the APC chieftain, to participate in a solidarity walk for the party’s presidential candidate.
In a statement, signed by the chairman of the NFGG, Mr Alaba Ogundele, and secretary, Mrs Isaac Nnorom, the group described as ‘absolute dehumanization’ for Tinubu’s daughter and head of the Lagos market, to threaten the women with seizing their shops if they failed to join the march.
The march for Tinubu held in Lagos, last Monday, with women from various markets staging a show of support for the APC Presidential candidate, Tinubu.
Stating that the action was against the fundamental human rights of the women, the group advised the ruling party to desist from forcefully dragging people into unnecessary political drama, against their will, in a bid to feign support.
Condemning the action in strong terms, the group, despite acknowledging that N5,000 was given to each of the women after the march, stated that such forceful order for closure of shops, due to the march, rendered the ‘money or whatsoever that is given to the women worthless,’ as people should be allowed to support a candidate or political party out of their own volition.
The group further added that some of the women earn up to N20, 000 daily, and as such, the quarter of their daily income, given to them after such order, ‘was not in any way commensurate with the appropriate compensation they deserved.’
