The National Chairperson of the Labour Party, Nenadi Usman, has said she was moved to tears when Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, insisted that she should remain as leader of the party after completing her tenure as caretaker chairperson.
NewsWatch Nigeria reports that Usman was elected substantive national chairperson of the LP on April 28 at the party’s national convention in Umuahia, Abia State.
Before her election, the former Minister of Finance had led the party in an acting capacity since September 2024, when she was appointed chairperson of the LP national caretaker committee.
Speaking on Friday in Abuja while receiving the leadership of the Nigeria League of Women Voters, Kaduna State chapter, Usman attributed her emergence to Otti’s support.
She said, “When I was going to Umuahia for our last convention, I thought I would hand over to a man. I shed tears when Otti insisted that I should remain.
“He is indeed a true advocate of women inclusion, especially as reflected in the appointments he has made in Abia State.”
Usman commended Otti, describing him as a firm believer in the capacity, dependability and integrity of women.
She added that the governor’s performance in Abia State remained visible evidence of what the Labour Party represented.
Usman thanked the women’s group for its commitment to advancing women’s political rights in Nigeria.
She urged the group not “to relent in the face of intimidation and the difficult operating environment,” saying more still needed to be done in the struggle for gender inclusion.
She said, “The Labour Party has remained true to its ideals by not only preaching inclusion but also practising it.”
Usman noted that the LP had produced the first female national chairman of a major political party in Nigeria and currently had women serving as national chairman, national organising secretary and national legal adviser.
The LP chairperson lamented what she described as shrinking opportunities for women in governance and politics despite years of advocacy.
She recalled that during her time in the seventh National Assembly, there were eight female senators, while the current 10th Senate has only three women.
Usman described the decline as a major setback for gender representation.
She said, “Even when statistics show that women voters outnumber men during elections, women candidates are often sidelined by their fellow women at the polls. This trend must stop if we are to make any appreciable progress in our quest for greater women inclusion.”
She assured the delegation that the Labour Party would remain committed to greater women’s inclusion in politics.
Responding, the leader of the delegation, Rekiya Shonekan, urged Usman to use her platform to support advocacy for the bill seeking special seats for women in parliament.
Shonekan said Usman’s continued support for women’s empowerment would help make Nigeria’s political space more inclusive for women.
