WOMAN PRESIDENT NIGERIANA

 Okello Oculi writes there are many enemies at the gates

The low successes by female candidates in the 2023 election results (as announced before the final push on Saturday April 15, 2023), has been overshadowed by criticisms about the conduct of the flow of results for presidential positions.

When Christian worshipers celebrated the symbolism of the triumphant resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth out of death, in defiance of evil opponents, there was no reference to the fate of women in politics. And yet there was reason for some cheer.

 At one of the rituals for self congratulation for performance as Governor of Rivers State, Nisome Wike, reported that each of 23 local governments had elected a FEMALE Deputy Chairperson. The State also elected a female Deputy Governor in a repeat of his own government. These were clearly results of executive intervention.

The contest in Adamawa State is a case of opposing sources of facilitation. The incumbent governor may have roots in General Ibrahim Babangida’s posting of Yohana Madaki to serve as a Military Administrator of Gongola State. The Emir of Muri was reported to have lobbied against Colonel Madaki due to a conviction that he hated feudal rulers. 

The CONCORD newspaper published a cartoon of Madaki and the Emir in a boxing ring, while a hand pulled Madaki’s singlet from outside the boxing arena. The words:’’Guided Missile” accompanied the action. The newspaper was owned by M.K.O. Abiola who was reported to be a friend of General Babangida.

Senator Binani Ahmed, the only female politician to contest for the post of State Governor in the 2023 election was vigorously opposed by leaders in All Progressive Congress who preferred a male candidate. She had to win a court judgement to affirm her legitimacy as the party’s candidate. The ethnic and class groups that Madaki antagonised in the mid-1980s are assumed to be her main support base.

The strength of her appeal is said to have forced the Peoples Democratic Party to choose a female candidate for the Deputy Governor post to appeal to women voters. The symbolic value of Senator Binani’s outing must be counted as a gain for women’s political aspirations towards the 2027 elections.

The theme of executive sponsorship being a critical factor were shown in Uganda and Rwanda following their military conquest of power in 1986 and 1994, respectively. Amilcar Cabral had warned PAIGC that anti-women attitudes and cultural beliefs persist during liberation wars and can be very harmful if not combated. Museveni’s ‘’Movement’’ directed that women must be included from the ward level to the leadership of the national parliament. A cabinet minister said (in a television documentary by Debrah Ogazuma) that male voters expect her to go on her knees when canvassing for votes in rural communities.

In my oral interview in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, several male respondents attributed the high number of women in the country’s parliament to President Kagame fearing opposing views by male MPs and cabinet ministers. They ignored the intellectual versatility of women as ‘’multi-taskers’’, and managers of consensus and peace among diverse personality traits among their own children, as vital for public policy-making and administration.

Women activists accepted the formula of allocating 30 percent of seats in elected bodies. This mathematical minority would contradict a population divide of women being numerically higher than that of men. This figure expresses struggles against persons running on morbid intolerance of women and their visibility in policy arenas.

Senegal evolved a novel measure. With reference to their pre-colonial governance, they outlined the place of women in community management, and took the decision to adapt the past to current public affairs. They assembled representatives of different categories of people who with open dialogue agreed on the formula each political party contesting an election must present 50 percent each of female and male candidates.

In recent issue what is widespread is the denial of education to female children on the view that she will export her trained skills to the family/country of her husband. This assumes that no educated wives would flow in a matrix of intermarriages.

Moreover, research has shown that girls are more likely to support their parents rather than boys who focus on their own children.

The current pandemic of murders of women and girls in South Africa has roots in the humiliations, and violence suffered by males under Boer racism.

In Nigeria an assembly of the Council of State, the Clergy, Journalists/ Academia; Women associations; Business; Professionals and Traditional midwives should analyse forms of oppression in Nigeria in the last one hundred years, and how they affect relations with, and violence against, women.

The product would guide policies that affect women, including facilitating their scientific; industrial; cultural creativity and political leadership. Imaginative tools for curative education would be crucial.

Prof Oculi writes from Abuja