2027 Is Not Your Husband’s Election

By Uche Okoli Eke Awka Trader

My name is Uche Okoli (Mama Ifeoma). I trade onions at Eke Awka. In 2023, I didn’t vote. Not from apathy. From resignation. I assumed my single PVC was irrelevant. That the men in agbada had concluded Nigeria’s fate before dawn. That INEC was a closed family meeting. I was wrong. Anambra women bore the consequences.

Here’s what our silence bought us: After we refused to botel, things got worse.  My daughter’s PTA levy increased. No woman was at the table when that decision was taken. Daily market tickets doubled. No woman trader was present to say, “We’re barely surviving.” The maternity bill that would have guaranteed 6 months leave for nursing mothers? Dead on arrival. Only 3 women sat in that House.

Sister, let us be clear. 2027 is not their election. It is ours. But we must first dismantle three dangerous lies.

Lie 1: “My vote won’t count.”
Data says otherwise. In 2023, only 24.9% of registered Nigerians voted. 75% of us handed them power by default. In some Anambra LGAs, female turnout was under 15%. When we vacate the space, they don’t need to rig. Our silence does the job.

Lie 2: “Politics is dirty, I’m a child of God.”
Scripture disagrees. Joseph governed. Esther influenced the palace. Deborah judged a nation. God never commissioned women to surrender public life to Pharaoh. If the table is dirty, bring your wrapper and sanitize it.

Lie 3: “Only rich women can contest.”
False. In 2023, a woman in Kaduna won her councillorship with a ₦80,000 campaign. Her strategy? Door to door. Her message to women: “If you can mobilize 10 women for Asoebi, you can mobilize 10 votes.” She won. You don’t need godfather funding. You need godmother strategy. Think local. Ward councillor controls market levies. School board controls PTA fees. Women Leader influences who gets the ticket. Small office, seismic impact.

So what’s the Anambra woman’s 2027 playbook?

Step 1: Secure your PVC. INEC reopens registration in 2026. Don’t wait for the rush. No PVC, no power. Mobilize your daughter, your apprentice, your church circle. Treat it like market day.

Step 2: Join a political party. Any party. Candidates emerge from monthly ward meetings. If women are absent from that room, men will draft the list unchallenged. Enter. Sit. Speak. Your presence alone disrupts the status quo.

Step 3: Vote like your household depends on it, because it does. In 2027, interrogate every candidate: “What’s your policy for widows? For schoolgirls? For market women?” No plan, no vote. Refuse ₦2,000 to mortgage your child’s future. My grandmother taught me: “When the mother of the house sleeps, thieves gain access.” Anambra women, we have been asleep since 1999. In 2027, we stand guard. Garri prices are politics. Pampers costs are politics. Impunity for sexual violence is politics. If we don not engage politics, politics will assault us. Get your PVC. Claim your seat. Pull your sisters along. 2027 is not your husband’s election. It’s yours. Fail to take it, and they will take it again.

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Sylvia’s Take:
Let’s stop lying to ourselves, Ndi Anambra. 
Politics entered your kitchen the day garri price increased. It entered your bedroom the day you could not afford pads for your daughter. It entered your hospital bill the day that maternity bill died without a fight. 

Men are not “doing” politics to us. We are _donating_ power to them through absence. 
24.9% turnout means 3 out of every 4 adults looked away. That’s not rigging. That’s abdication. 

2027 will not be won on Facebook. It will be won in ward meetings where candidates are handpicked at 4pm on a Tuesday while you are in the market. If you are not there, do not complain when they pick the same man who affected your life negatively.. 

So here is my charge: Don’t just vote. _Occupy._ 
Occupy the PVC line. Occupy the ward meeting. Occupy the ballot box. 
Because the man who controls your market levy will never fear your WhatsApp status. He fears your presence. 

2027 is not your husband’s election! It is not about “women supporting women.” It’s about women securing women. Get in the room, or stay out of the conversation. 

Sylvia Tochukwu-Ngige Founder
 | http://Sylviangige.com
Where women’s power meets real life

Link:

Https://www.cvr.inecnigeria.org