Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo’s emergence as the first female deputy governor in Enugu State has gender activists excited that barriers against women are being broken down.
Created in 1991, Enugu State has never had a woman occupy the exalted office of governor or deputy governor, the two top positions in the state that have essentially been dominated by men who relegated women to the background.
It was as such a matter of excitement among women activists at the end of last year when the announcement of Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo was announced as the running mate to Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi when he emerged as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governorship candidate
Observers quickly poured encomiums and eulogies on Ugwuanyi’s decision which they said was a strategic political masterstroke to woo majority of the electorates who comprised of women and youths mostly. But political pundits were however not astonished at Ugwuanyi’s decision to run with a female deputy hinging their stance on Ugwuanyi’s political prowess to galvanise the needed support for their victory.
Another school of thought maintained that Ugwuanyi was mindful of the wind of change billowing across the country as more women have occupied sensitive positions in government hitherto reserved for the men.
During President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to Enugu for his presidential rally at the Nnamdi Azikwe stadium last November, Ugwuanyi had described Ezeilo as a gift to the people of Enugu State insisting that his administration will have a human face having a mother as his deputy who would provide the soothing balm of peace and progress to calm politically frayed nerves.
Ezeilo, a lawyer and widow of late Chief Malachy Ezeilo, a traditional ruler and a one-time Commissioner for Works during the old Anambra State learned the robe and shot to limelight riding on her husband’s crest.
