The moment President declared Osinbajo’s position 'under threat'

President Muhammadu

A delegation of women lawmakers had paid a courtesy visit on President Buhari at the Villa on Friday, May 25, 2018, with a long list of demands.

Speaking on behalf of the delegation, which comprised elected lawmakers from the nation’s 36 states, the leader of the delegation, Hon. Elizabeth Ativie said Nigerian women were being marginalised by their male counterparts.

Female Vice President

Mrs. Ative headed straight for Osinbajo’s seat as she pleaded with President Buhari to concede the slot of the Vice President to them in subsequent elections in the country.

She said Nigeria only had one principal officer in each of the two chambers of the National Assembly since the return to democracy in 1999.

ALSO READ: The moment Osinbajo threatened to resign from his job

She also told Buhari that as the president, anything he said at the gathering “will become policy and subsequently law” adding that “whenever the president is a man, the Vice President should be a woman.”

Mrs. Ativie stated that for every three senatorial seats in the states, one should be a woman.

She noted that where there are nine House of Reps members, “the men should take six and leave three for women.”

Osinbajo’s seat under threat

“It is a pity that the Vice President is not here, but I am sure the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will brief him that his position is threatened,” President Buhari responded jokingly.

The President however appreciated the support given to him by women generally in the four times he ran for president.

He recalled reports he received during elections in which women in Labour queued to vote for him.

Cue reelection campaign

President Buhari also used the opportunity to seek for same level of support from Nigerian women for his reelection.

He asked the delegation to take a message to their colleagues to extend the same support since he has declared to seek for second term.

On their request, the president disclosed that he was not as powerful as perceived by most people given Nigeria’s democratic system of government.

President Buhari maintained that such requests could only be made by a Military Head of State, adding that he had “dropped the uniform for agbada”.