Up till now, women were expected to be content with simply supporting men in the quest for public office. Empowered by the COWAN program, women stood up at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ward and local government congresses in the area and, for the first time, campaigned for political power with men. At the ward congress, 15 officers were needed to constitute the ward officers and ten delegates to represent the zone. The party officers (all men) opted to select the officers by consensus rather than by elections. The women sensed that this would marginalize them, as has always been the case. In this instance, the women insisted that all the positions be openly contested for. The men relented and consented to their request. The women regrouped, applying the voter mobilization training they had received from CEDPA, and decided to support and vote for only the women they nominated. This approach paid dividends: the women were able to capture five offices out of the fifteen contested.

The women went on to apply the same method to the local government congress. Although the women were less successful in the local government congress, they made progress. Afraid that the women could capture more positions than they were willing to share, the party leaders called them for a round table meeting to negotiate how many women they were willing to appoint as local government delegates. In the end, only three women were appointed instead of the five seats that they had won. However, to the women in Obafemi Owode, this was a resounding achievement. The women are now poised to push for equal representation. The Obafemi Owode women's leader had this to say: "We have learned our lesson and I know that with the mobilization method applied, we will be able to capture more positions in the next local government elections. May God continue to strengthen COWAN and CEDPA. We still need their help."