The senator representing Abia South Senatorial District, Eyinnaya Abaribe, in a culled report from Premium times was quoted to have said the Senate rejected the Gender Equal Opportunities Bill because some lawmakers feared the legislation could give women unfettered freedom to engage in immoral activities.
Well A Blog visitor who claims to have attended the Meeting cleared the air last night in the original post but i had to turn it into a post in case some people miss it...
SDK please this is a SERIOUS misrepresentation of the meeting I attended yesterday.
I am a female lawyer and I was actually sitting opposite Senator Abaribe when he spoke. the meeting was organized by those who wrote the Bill to explain why the Bill failed and what Nigerian women need to do (beyond abusing people online, which wont move the issue forward anyway) to get this Bill passed.
The Senator gave a very intelligent set of suggestions to the women who were in the room and we were all very happy with his at the end of the day, especially because he offered to co - sponsor the Bill next time it is due for presentation. He noted that:
1. a lot of Nigerians who are yapping about this Bill (including SDK BVs) have NEVER read the document and don't even know what it says.
2. so, he urged the sponsors of the Bill to do more to explain the contents of the Bill to Nigerians
3. he noted that there was no single section in the Bill that talks of abortion or lesbianism but that ignorant people had branded it as such and that this particular narrative needs to be changed by journalists (like SDK) and other women from other walks of life
4. he said some of the northern senators felt they were not consulted enough when the document was being prepared and therefore felt it was a southerners v northerners bill. this is actually a legitimate concern because a lot of advocacy across party and religious lines needs to go into the process.
5. Finally he said women need to look for male champions of change to also speak in favour of the Bill and HE OFFERED TO BE ONE OF THE SPONSORS OF THE BILL next time it is being presented in Senate because it is going to be represented.
As a female journalist SDK, it is your responsibility to inform your readers accurately even about what the contents of the Bill. People are just talking based on nothing. they've never seen the Bill and have no idea what it says. so how then do you respond to those who are opposing it?? and how do you win them over??.
since the news broke we've all been googling SDK blog and coming here to read gossip. how about googling the 'gender and equal opportunities bill' and see for yourself what exactly it says??? Right now Senator Abaribe is preparing to sue premium times for completely distorting his remarks of yesterday: that's irresponsible journalism, nothing more
We need to reach out to the men in taking these issue forward and when we ignorantly release abuses and curses on a man who dared to come to a women's gathering to publicly speak in favor of this Bill, we are NOT helping the cause of women. neither are we being strategic AT ALL. please lets get ourselves better informed and talk like educated people...haba!!!!''
I am a female lawyer and I was actually sitting opposite Senator Abaribe when he spoke. the meeting was organized by those who wrote the Bill to explain why the Bill failed and what Nigerian women need to do (beyond abusing people online, which wont move the issue forward anyway) to get this Bill passed.
The Senator gave a very intelligent set of suggestions to the women who were in the room and we were all very happy with his at the end of the day, especially because he offered to co - sponsor the Bill next time it is due for presentation. He noted that:
1. a lot of Nigerians who are yapping about this Bill (including SDK BVs) have NEVER read the document and don't even know what it says.
2. so, he urged the sponsors of the Bill to do more to explain the contents of the Bill to Nigerians
3. he noted that there was no single section in the Bill that talks of abortion or lesbianism but that ignorant people had branded it as such and that this particular narrative needs to be changed by journalists (like SDK) and other women from other walks of life
4. he said some of the northern senators felt they were not consulted enough when the document was being prepared and therefore felt it was a southerners v northerners bill. this is actually a legitimate concern because a lot of advocacy across party and religious lines needs to go into the process.
5. Finally he said women need to look for male champions of change to also speak in favour of the Bill and HE OFFERED TO BE ONE OF THE SPONSORS OF THE BILL next time it is being presented in Senate because it is going to be represented.
As a female journalist SDK, it is your responsibility to inform your readers accurately even about what the contents of the Bill. People are just talking based on nothing. they've never seen the Bill and have no idea what it says. so how then do you respond to those who are opposing it?? and how do you win them over??.
since the news broke we've all been googling SDK blog and coming here to read gossip. how about googling the 'gender and equal opportunities bill' and see for yourself what exactly it says??? Right now Senator Abaribe is preparing to sue premium times for completely distorting his remarks of yesterday: that's irresponsible journalism, nothing more
We need to reach out to the men in taking these issue forward and when we ignorantly release abuses and curses on a man who dared to come to a women's gathering to publicly speak in favor of this Bill, we are NOT helping the cause of women. neither are we being strategic AT ALL. please lets get ourselves better informed and talk like educated people...haba!!!!''
Thanks for clearing the air on this,I revert to my former stand on the Bill....
Thank you!!!
Senator Abaribe number they among those that were released? if not, let me get the number. Afterall he is my brother.
ReplyDeleteThis ekuke northerners are something else. Useless sets of senators. Why will they say the bill is about northerners and southerners. Nigeria will never be great if we continue to have backward people like the North.
Why i dont agree on gender equality because it is already in the bible that the man should be the head of the house, i want men to treat women with respect and love. I hate seeing little girls getting married at 10 years. That is NOT FAIR
The way some newspapers twist stories ehn, you will think they are the original owners of the happening.
DeleteWhat are they scared of in this bill! It empowers widow who are usually thrown out of the house and stops the girl child marriage. Others are things that are happening before.
DeleteAs for saying I should employ without looking at marital status. Whose business is it if I choose not to employ a single or married woman. Or if I say I want to do an empowerment program for only men. Shebi a blogger is doing empowerment program for only women and no one is talking about it. They should park well abeg!
You are contradicting yourself. You better go and look for that bill and read. I'm not the poster for ur information
DeleteSpace booked..will be back soon
ReplyDeleteMc pinky
Lemme borrow ur space.
DeleteI'm yet to read the full content of the bill but like it suggests, i hope women are ready for this bill cos if it is eventually passed women should expect little or no preferential treatment anymore from men
But it's not our fault na. We react based on what we hear from journalists. It is their job to bring legitimate and correct news to us. It is not our job to be finding news everywhere. Blame premium times😒
ReplyDeleteThis man is too responsible to have made such statement.I didn't bliv it from the start.
ReplyDeleteOkay.
ReplyDelete#WhiteDiamondOut
Ok
ReplyDeleteLOL.
ReplyDeleteWe don hear........
Seen...
ReplyDeletePeople are just going about recycling ignorance. Oriegwu!
ReplyDeleteI for say,whether inequality turned men to homo
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis BOY is just a bloody nuisance. It will do us well to ignore further comments from him
DeleteNortheners will never sign this bill no matter the consultations. They are the most chauvinistic and hide behind religion
ReplyDeleteHe shld be scared for men.
ReplyDeleteDid Abaribe actually say or didn't say the gender equality bill will turn Naija women into prostitutes and lesbians? Even more, the newspapers/journalists need to publish a list of those senators who made such a chauvinistic and degrading remarks about women even in the absence of real evidence/data to make such conclusion. By the way, what are the women's organizations and other civil society groups doing about these "uncivilized" senators in modern day Nija?
ReplyDeleteDid Abaribe actually say or didn't say the gender equality bill will turn Naija women into prostitutes and lesbians? Even more, the newspapers/journalists need to publish a list of those senators who made such a chauvinistic and degrading remarks about women even in the absence of real evidence/data to make such conclusion. By the way, what are the women's organizations and other civil society groups doing about these "uncivilized" senators in modern day Nija? If Nija women remotely think this bill will be passed by a male dominated assembly on a platter of gold bar any sacrifices on their part, then they can expect to sit on a very long thing. #goodcausetospeakup
ReplyDeleteI am so ashamed after reading this. I had already insulted the man well for supposedly saying the reason the bill was rejected was because women will become Lesbians.
ReplyDeleteGoing online to find out more.
God will deliver us from those that feed us with untrue stories