The Women Mobilisation Directorate for the All Progressives Congress (APC) 2027 Presidential Campaign Council, has urged market women in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, southern Nigeria, to vote massively at the general election for the party.
The deputy director, Women Mobilisation Directorate of the council, Dr Betta Edu, who made the call during a rally held at the popular Watt market in Calabar, told the women to support the candidacies of the Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and Governor Bassey Otu for a second term.
Edu, accompanied by some officials and the chairman of Calabar South local government area, doled out grants and household items as gifts to the women especially the elderly.
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According to the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, the distribution of grants and items was on behalf of Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
She said, “I am here on the orders of the wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who is our lead in the women’s team all over the nation. She has sent us here to come and canvass for votes amongst women, farmers, petty traders and the rest of them.
“The idea is to provide seed funds in the hands of these women to expand their businesses. We are giving them ₦50,000 each for that purpose and in the long run, improve their standard of living and their families too,” she stated.
The team also visited patients at the Maternal and Children’s Wards of the General Hospital Calabar, where bills of some of those on admission were defrayed.
Edu said told journalists that the visit was to lend support to families and assure health workers and people of APC’s commitment to strengthen healthcare services across the nation.
She said, “Our visit here is one of support to the patients, their families and the hospital. The President Tinubu administration is making remarkable changes in the healthcare delivery sector.
“The wife of the President and the wife of the governor, Bishop Eyoanwan Otu, have shown commitment in providing access to services especially for pregnant and nursing mothers as well as children under five and the elderly.
“We need to understand that healthcare reforms, to the APC, mean, giving access to all Nigerians, women, men, children, elderly, all vulnerable groups, irrespective of where they reside,” she emphasised.
In a remark, the Administrator of the hospital, Mrs Bassey Ephraim, thanked the Betta Edu-led team for choosing to visit patients at the facility, noting “We are honoured to receive you and your team here. We are also about the assistance given to some of the patients.
“It is our hope that we will continue to witness the much-needed transformation in this sector. We appreciate President Bola Tinubu and his wife, Oluremi. We also appreciate Governor Bassey Otu and his wife, Eyoanwan for the free services to the patients,” she said.
Meanwhile, Edu led the team for an interaction with students of the University of Calabar, where she urged them to vote en masse for all the candidates of the APC at the 2027 general election.
While hinting that the team would be moving to the central and northern senatorial districts for further interactions with women in those areas, she added, “I am calling on all the people of Cross River State to come out en masse to vote for Tinubu, Otu and all APC candidates from top to bottom.”
