 Hundreds of river state women staged a peace walk on the street of Port Harcourt in commemoration of the International Women's Day and to also express the agitation for women's inclusion in politics and leadership positions in the country. The report. As part of the activities to mark International Women's Day, some Nigerian women in river states from various groups staged a peace walk to the state assembly in Port Harcourt to protest the rejection of some bills seeking gender equality in the country at the National Assembly in Abuja. They staged the walk from Isaac Borupak through the streets of Port Harcourt and stopped at the river state House of Assembly to express their displeasure over what they term as gender discrimination. Speaking to journalists after the walk, coordinators of various groups said they are using the day to condemn the violation of women's rights in society. The group said they needed 35% affirmative action implemented. We are actually angry that all of the five gender bills that were projected to the National Assembly were rejected. We are saying that enough is enough. Women have so much role to play when it comes to leadership in the community, in the country at large. And we are asking, we are only asking for 35% affirmative action which is linked to the gender and equal opportunities bill. But why do we keep getting a rejection? Women hold more percentage in terms of demographic in Nigeria and we should be given the opportunity to be at that leadership position in governance. Our demands as women won urgent reconvening, reconsideration and immediate passage of the five women gender-related bills, bills number 35, 36, 37, 38 and 68. Two, the passing of the gender and equal opportunities bill currently before the Senate. Three, resuscitation and the passage of the bill on support for women participation in elective and appointive positions. We have come to break that political bias in this nation. Enough is enough. At the family front, in the political sector, we have come to say women cannot take it again. The 35% affirmative action is just a baseline. But even that, women do not have. We are in reverse. The only woman we have is only one woman in the House of Assembly. So how can our voice be heard? What the women are actually asking for is what they took oaths for that they are going to defend our democracy. And that's what we are asking. We are not asking too much of that. Left for me, I was thinking that women should rather say there should be 50-50 opportunities given to women. Women's law should be kept aside. Men have just shown that they are still not ready to work with women. And we are saying that we want the governance to be opened up so that women can be part of it. Because we know that women, when they get in there, are the only people that understand women's issues and will bring our issues to the forefront. And even our children, the issues of our children also will be discussed. Women do not want to be like men. What we are asking for is equality in terms of opportunities, equality in terms of outcomes. We are just saying make the life chances of women and men the same. We sit for the same exams. We sit in the same classrooms. But when it comes to decision-making, when it comes to very timely opportunities, women are left behind. And we can no longer sit back and watch. We hope that this current assembly will rewrite history. Meanwhile, Speaker of the River State House of Assembly Ikoi Owaji Bani, while responding to the women, pledged the lawmaker's support for the inclusion of women in politics and leadership position across the country. It talks them for more active participation in politics in order to secure better positions. As an assembly, we stand with you. Thank you, sir. And we will continue to stand with you. This is an electionary period. INEC has published timetable for 2023 election. INEC has published timetable, then a woman will now go out and collect forms to run a election. You sit in your house and you take somebody to come and bring you, to come and run a election. Politics is not played that way. You must be an active participant. If you are not active, you will not be seen. So I also encourage you that you should not stop at the level of advocacy. Recall that five of the 68 bills, which sought to promote opportunities for women in politics, governance and the society at large, failed to get the required number of votes to be included in the proposed amendments to the 1999 constitution. Hello. Hope you enjoyed the news. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.