A call has been made for Nigeria's First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, to spearhead a historic move to secure a significant number of legislative seats for women ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Strategic Push for Gender Inclusion
Kayode Fakuyi, an aspirant for the Ondo South senatorial ticket under the All Progressives Congress (APC), has publicly urged the President's wife to leverage her influence. He believes that with her full backing and sincere involvement, alongside other critical stakeholders, a bill for reserved seats for women in the National Assembly can become a reality.
Fakuyi, who is seeking to replace Senator Jimoh Ibrahim following his ambassadorial nomination, made this declaration on Wednesday, December 18, 2025. He stressed that given the huge population and contributions of Nigerian women to national development, they deserve dedicated representation in the federal legislature.
Avoiding the Fate of Past Bills
The aspirant cautioned that this initiative requires meticulous strategic planning to avoid the pitfalls that doomed previous pro-women legislation. He advised that there must be a proper diagnosis and analysis of why such bills failed in the past to ensure a new approach succeeds.
"By 2027, women can have at least 144 seats in the National Assembly," Fakuyi stated confidently. He broke down the numbers, explaining that each state could produce 4 female lawmakers out of its 12 federal legislators – 3 senators and at least 9 House of Representatives members.
This permutation, according to him, would translate to at least 36 female senators out of 109 and 108 female House of Representatives members out of 360.
Building a Broad-Based Consensus
To achieve this ambitious target, Fakuyi urged the First Lady to engineer a wide consensus. He specifically mentioned the need to bring key bodies on board, including the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), major political parties through their national chairmen, and the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF).
He argued that if some political parties have successfully presented candidates who won elections while incarcerated, they should find it seamless to support patriotic, committed, and qualified women for elective positions. This collective effort, he maintains, is crucial for translating the proposal into tangible results for Nigerian women in 2027.
