Rinsola Abiola is a media entrepreneur, young politician and advocate for youth inclusion and gender equity. Recently, she announced her aspiration to occupy the position of the National Youth Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In this interview with Nseobong Okon-Ekong, she gives an insight into her professional and political career and addresses issues relating to young people and women’s political participation. Excerpts:
Can you give us an insight into your professional career?
I have work experience which cuts across the private, public and development sectors. In the Eighth Assembly, I worked as Special Assistant to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara. I’ve also worked as government relations and partnerships manager at a finance and logistics startup.
I currently run my media and political consultancy firm and two non-profits, namely: Equity Now Initiative, which is focused on enhancing youth and women’s participation and representation in politics and governance, and the Derinsola Abiola Foundation, which is domiciled in Abeokuta, my hometown, and is a vehicle for social development programmes.
I am a PR professional certified by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and I have a BSc in Statistics.
What informed your decision to join politics and how do you strike a balance between youth and gender advocacy?
I grew up in a politically charged period. There was a lot of talk about democracy and military rule. I also would often hear people complain about the state of the nation, how Nigeria needs to be better, the rapidly expanding inequality gap with a weak middle class and how freedoms were being stifled.
A major reason I’m in politics now is because I believe that our democracy was hard fought, and therefore needs to be guarded so that it can propel us into economic and social prosperity. The proactive and prudent means of achieving this, from my standpoint, is to participate either by being an active citizen or joining a political party; I choose to do both.
While growing up, I also realised that women really do not have it easy, and girls and women must thus be supported in our collective quest to break the bias. Importantly too, in the course of my various professional and socio-political endeavours, I became fully aware of the need to prioritize youth development with deliberate actions aimed at inclusion and empowerment. It is for this reason that I will always be an advocate for both young people and women; we face similar challenges and as one who belongs to both groups, it is important to seek equity for both.
How have you managed to develop the relevant skills for politics?
My experience working with and being mentored by influential political actors, some of whom guided Nigeria through defining moments in our history, has contributed immensely to my acquisition of political skills required for coalition and consensus-building, policy development and implementation, effective representation and the process of translating desires into policies and workable political programmes. These are skills that are crucial to the success of any politician and qualities that have propelled me in my journey.
Also significant is that fact that I am an ardent reader of politics and leadership material. I also seek opportunities to learn and have been on study visits and exchange programmes organised by the US Department of State, the Swedish Embassy and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, among others.
What’s it like running for office?
I ran for a seat in the House of Representatives and lost, but what I learnt then has made me a much better grassroots politician and I’m working to address the challenges I took note of across communities in my constituency through my foundation. So for me, it’s not a loss in the absolute sense of the word and if anything, that experience made me more mature politically, more grassroots-oriented, more deliberate, more knowledgeable and more empathetic.
At the moment, I’m running again but this time, for a position in the national leadership of my party, the All Progressives Congress. I’m in the race to be the party’s youth leader, and I am extremely thankful to all those who have expressed their support for me.
The youth leader position is usually occupied by men. Do you really believe you can succeed in your quest?
So firstly, young women are youths too. We stand at the intersection of two marginalised groups, namely youths and women, and are often further marginalised within both groups. Young women are youths and we can aspire to occupy any youth leadership position provided we are qualified for it and fall within the stated age range, which I do.
Also, me vying for national youth leader doesn’t prevent young men within the party from doing so. If I clinch the role, then it also doesn’t prevent young men from occupying other positions like the deputy national youth leader and zonal youth leader slots. At the moment, state youth leaders are male, even down to the senatorial zones, local governments and wards, and this isn’t viewed by anyone as being discriminatory.
My aspiration should therefore not be viewed as an affront to young men in the party or a move against them; many of them know me and can attest to the fact that it’s a position I am qualified for, and I consider us all to be partners in progress.
I am passionate about enhanced youth inclusion and have done a lot of work to support this, so I’m on a quest to deliver on a better deal for us all as young people. If elected as youth leader, my mandate will be to deliver the youth vote for the APC in addition to protecting and promoting the interests of young people irrespective of their gender.
I believe in the strength and persuasive quality of my ideas and so there is no reason, really, to doubt my chances of success.
Concerns have been expressed about your loyalty to your party, considering you once left and ran on another platform. What do you have to say about this?
At the time I made that decision, there were serious complications in the APC in my home state. All the statements I made then are a matter of public record, and I made it abundantly clear that the issues were local. This is also as many within the party were aware of the circumstances that culminated in that decision. Also, anyone with a firm understanding of our politics knows that your chances of succeeding at the polls are much higher if you run on the platform of one of the major political parties, the APC or the PDP.
Now, back then, the two factional leaders of the PDP in Ogun state were members of the National Assembly. Hon. Ladi Adebutu was in the House of Representatives while Senator Buruji Kashamu, who’s now late, was in the Senate. I had a good enough relationship with people who could have influenced either or even both of them, so that I would run on that platform and have a much better chance of being elected. This was an option I did not explore because my aversion to the PDP is very well documented and my views about the party remain unchanged.
It was for this reason that I opted for a new party, despite being fully aware that campaigning would be much more challenging. So if, to my own detriment, I chose to remain true to progressive ideals by not going to the PDP even though I could have, then should I really be described as disloyal? Could I have handled the situation better? Yes. Did I learn key lessons, and have those lessons shaped my views and positively influenced my actions politically since 2019? Absolutely. Would I take the same path if such a thing were to happen again? No. Why? Because while the principles that guide my participation in politics remain the same, I have matured a great deal since then and my approach to issues is much different.
Also, not once did I make disparaging comments about the party or its national leadership, including our dear president and other officials of the Nigerian government, as many are wont to do when they leave for other platforms.
But you are on record as having said the APC is not youth-friendly…
That’s not a direct quote from me, but a headline crafted by a media organisation. It’s being circulated by certain people because I’m currently running for a leadership position within the party, but such antics are to be expected in a contest of this nature. I believe, however, that everyone in active politics can relate to headlines that do not truly represent views expressed or comments made.
What actually happened was that I informed close friends of developments then and one of them, who happened to run a news site, thought it was a press release and published it. Other agencies then also reported it and came up with all sorts of headlines while doing so.
It is common knowledge that many media agencies are given to sensationalism, and I have no control over how bloggers or journalists choose to craft their headlines or report stories.
At what point did you return to the APC?
I had remained in talks with our leaders and close friends within the youth wing throughout the duration of my campaign. Many lent their support and when the polls were over, I was encouraged to return home. This, I agreed to instantly, but it was not until I returned to Abeokuta in June 2019 that I got my membership slip.
Some say you are not an active or committed member of the party…
I would say that is manifestly untrue. Before 2019, I was actively involved in promoting the party and protecting the interests of women and young people. This, I have sustained, in addition to being active back home not just through advocacy but also by contributing to and investing in the party’s growth.
For instance, during the membership registration exercise, I sponsored free passport pictures both individually and in a joint effort with other young people in Ogun state, and sponsored media engagements calling on women and young people to join the party and partner with the government of Ogun state in building our future together.
I also sponsored activities by the Progressive Young Women’s Forum across the six south-western states, and these included billboards placed in strategic locations, mini-rallies and media engagements by leaders of the group in each state, all with my own resources. This was also as I provided support to many other young people who reached out to me from across the country so they could mobilise youths within their respective communities.
In recognition of my efforts locally, I was granted the privilege of nominating leaders into the party exco in my ward; that sort of honour is not granted to people who are considered as not being committed or who haven’t made notable investments towards the party’s growth. I have also invested directly in members of the party through empowerment programmes and similar initiatives, and I have been chosen for assignments by the national leadership of the party; if my commitment was in doubt, I do not think that any of that would have happened.
What do you think should be done to enhance women’s participation in politics?
This is a timely question, seeing as it is Women’s Month and we’re all talking about breaking the bias. To get more women into politics, we need to work on the social conditioning that makes people believe that politics and leadership are not for women. We also need to encourage young women particularly to develop an interest in politics so that we can close that gap organically as our democracy matures.
In the meantime, we need stop-gap measures like quotas for appointive and elective positions; I learnt that the House has rescinded its vote on the constitution amendment bills regarding gender equity and I am hoping that the bills get the needed support to scale through this time around.
If we want to fix the underrepresentation of women in elective positions, we also need to cultivate a culture of crowdfunding. Women politicians usually do not have the same level of resources as their male counterparts, and we need to rally round them and provide support in this regard.
