Daboya MP must resign over “useless statement” – Otiko

Madam Otiko Afisah Djaba, National Women’s Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has advised Mr. Nelson Abudu Baani, Member of Parliament (MP) for Daboya-Mankarigu Constituency to resign.

She said his call for adulterous women to be stoned or hanged to death was in bad taste and must not be compromised.

“If women voted for you to go and represent them in Parliament and you go to make such ‘useless statement’ against them, then you do not deserve to represent them and so you must resign,” she stated.

Madam Otiko made the call while speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Wa after interacting with various Constituency Women’s Organizers in the Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions.

“The women are very upset and the MP should apologize unconditionally to all women in the country and also resign from his seat as MP,” she noted.

The NPP National Women’s Organiser questioned whether the MP would allow her mother or sister to be stoned to death if any of them is accused of committing adultery?

Madam Otiko noted that the rule of law called for equity and equal treatment for all and such comments were injurious to the well-being and development of women, as well as the equal representation in governance and decision making that the country had been fighting for over a decade now.

“I am not by this endorsing adultery among women but what is wrong must be seen as such and therefore must be condemned by all right-thinking persons in society.

“What is wrong is wrong and the Sharia Law is wrong and we must avoid it,” she said.

Madam Otiko noted that the matter was not a partisan matter and that all who have women at heart should come out publicly to condemn it.

The NPP National Women’s Organiser took a swipe at the Minister for Women, Gender and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, accusing her that “her silence on the matter was too pregnant” and that she should rise up and fight for the women she represented.

She also called on Parliament, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and others to sit up and protect women from such archaic laws and all forms of abuse.