Last week, I wrote on Adamawa State supplementary poll and INEC’s bizarre drama and how Amadu Umaru Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) managed to gallantly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat after battling with so many demons in our combative, ethnicized, and genderized politics. The way INEC conducted the Adamawa State supplementary poll shows that there is more that enter our polls than what mere eyes can see. Only time will reveal those hidden things.
The audacity of the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Hudu Yunusa-Ari, in announcing Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the poll when the process was still on was baffling. And more baffling is the report that Yunusa-Ari’s whereabouts is unknown. The police should know where he is. In Nigeria, anything is possible, especially when politics is concerned. The police should arrest and prosecute him for performing the work of the Returning Officer (RO), Prof. Mohammed Mele, which he should not do. Others who aided that perfidy in Adamawa should also be apprehended and prosecuted.
It will take some time for us, Nigerians, to fully grasp what actually happened during the 2023 general election. But we shall know it one day. The Adamawa scenario has shown that it is not yet time for a female or a woman to be the governor of a state in Nigeria. In other words, Nigeria is not yet ripe for a female governor. And if Nigeria is yet to produce a female governor via election, it will be very hard to have a female president of Nigeria in foreseeable future. Even the United States (US), the bastion of democracy is yet to produce a female president. The nearest to it is Kamala Harris, the current Vice President of America. The United Kingdom (UK) has had many female prime ministers. Some other European countries have produced female leaders. India had produced a female prime minister.
It is certain that Binani and her sisters must have to wait for years before the highly masculinized political system will allow them produce a female governor. I don’t really know how many years it will take to realize that noble vision. It will happen one day.
For now, our politics is for men and men only. It is for men with financial muscle and necessary connections to the corridors of power. It is not even open for all men in the real sense of the word. Some men and some groups cannot think of even entering there for now. That is why the idea of power rotation among the six geopolitical zones is the best political arrangement for highly diversified Nigeria. It is a way of ensuring that no section of the country is excluded from the corridors of power. The present political lingo of it is my turn, it is our turn, it is their turn without any constitutional backing or strong will is an invitation to political anarchy.
In Nigeria power is never served on a dinner table just like that. It is never served as breakfast or lunch. It is taken and taken by force. Some people can grab it with force or oratory but more with force than oratory. It can also be turn by turn. At times, it can be given to a group as a way of appeasement. It can be ceded to a group as a way of placating them. The few brave women in the political arena may get close to power by being deputy governors, and members of the legislature at national and state levels. Nigerian politics like its literature, especially in its early phase, is phallocentric and patriarchal. The women are only tolerated being in the women’s wing of the political parties where they sing and clap for men who determine where the power pendulum swings.
Like in the most Nigerian family where women are seen and not heard and where their lots belong to the living room (parlour), the kitchen and the other room, women in Nigerian politics are there just to swell the numerical strength of the parties and their voting powers. However, not all men consign their wives to the living room, kitchen and the other room, where most family issues are discussed and approved.
It is regrettable that women are neglected in our politics. It is sad that women are not factored into our national development agenda. It is unfortunate that our politics has become a game for men, men with biceps, men without milk of human kindness, men without nurturing qualities in exclusion of women attributes. They are not even factored into the nocturnal political meetings where important political matters are discussed. Why are most political meetings held in the night?
Let our politicians factor the women principles, women attributes, women’s nurturing in our politics and development agenda. It is not enough to trumpet the 35 percent affirmative action and yet debar women from being elected governors, senators and reps. Only a few women managed to be elected into the national assembly in the 2023 election cycle. Making women commissioners and ministers and special assistants is good, but we need female governors, we need more women in the chambers of power where policies are cooked and executed. If policies are really cooked as in cooking food, we need women for those policies to be cooked well with the right condiments. I hope you get my drift. Women supposed to be part of the kitchen cabinet of any administration. Women know the kitchen very well and they ought to be part of any thing that comes out of the power kitchen. If they belong to the family kitchen, the parlour and the other room, they must belong to the power chamber’s parlour and kitchen. Agreed that our male politicians are knowledgeable in all things but they need the vital contributions of women for this country to fully develop. There are sectors I think women can thrive better than men in the management of national affairs. It is not only women affairs that women can handle. They can handle finance, health, education and agriculture just to mention a few.
Since power is not served on a breakfast table in Nigeria, women should brace up for a good fight to secure the plum political positions beginning with the gubernatorial seat. Women should stop being satisfied with being appointed women’s leader or minister of women’s affairs. I don’t know why there is no men’s affairs ministry. They have clapped enough for the men in the corridors of power, it is now the turn of the men to pay back and support the women to become governors and deputy governors. The power of a deputy governor is so infinitesimal that they are just there as spares.
I don’t know which zone of the country among the six geopolitical zones will be the first to produce a female governor. Any state that breaks that jinx will be highly celebrated. It will be announced on the CNN, BBC and other international news channels. For the amazons, there is hope that one day one of you will become the governor of a state in Nigeria. That day may not necessarily be too far. It is an achievable dream. For Binani and the other women out there, there is hope for a better tomorrow when women will be in charge. Nigerian women are coming to the engine room of power.