Wanted: More Activist Women Politicians

By Alabi Williams | 03 March 2025

It was revealed at a sensitization meeting last week in Lagos, that as many as 15 state assemblies have no women legislators, not a single woman in a state’s lawmaking body. It sounds unbelievable, that in Nigeria’s 21st century, a vital half of the population is systematically excluded from the most crucial arm of government, and we seem to feel comfortable with it. Maybe we needn’t search further why the polity has remained stunted, with just a one-sided corrupted reasoning.

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A Daily Trust survey in June 2023, revealed that there are no female legislators in at least 13 state assemblies, which negates inclusion and fairness. Out of 988 state assembly seats, only 54 lawmakers are females, representing 5.4 per cent, while 94.53 per cent are male. States like Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Abia, Osun, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara were said not to have their assemblies dominated by male lawmakers.

The survey further showed that 23 states have female legislators with the following percentages: Anambra 3.33; Kaduna 3.22; Bayelsa 7.69; Benue 6.25; Cross River 8; Delta 6.89; Ekiti 23; Oyo 6.25; Taraba 8.33; Nasarawa 4.16; Plateau 8.33; Kogi 8; Kwara 20.8; Akwa Ibom 15.3; Ogun 7.69; Lagos 10; Adamawa 4; Ondo 11.5; Edo 4.16; Niger 3.70; Enugu 4.16; Rivers 18.75 and Ebonyi 8.33.

The national average of 6.7 per cent participation is far less than African average of 23.4 per cent and global women participation of 22.5 per cent. The disparity against women is huge, and we may not be able to calculate what the consequences of under and zero representation have been for states and the country. On the nominal scale, there is strength in numbers when we get to confidence boosting. It takes the majority to win a debate and get bills passed. So, not having enough women to raise their voices at parliamentary debates and making laws is a minus for this democracy.

The journey towards universal adult suffrage has been tortuous, with women taking longer to come on board. After that hurdle was scaled in 1954 for southern women and 1979 for northern women, contesting for political offices presented its challenges. Some blame religion and culture for restricted access for women. In some place, women cannot freely participate with their male counterparts at political meetings. They are not supposed to be at the forefront. In hotly contested political offices, women are more likely to arrive late.
Preparing for elections in Nigeria is said to be like preparing for war.

Elections are a do or die affair, requiring more brawns and less of fair play. We have seen more men in the field than women, naturally. Some have canvassed for constitutional adjustments to create access for women as obtained in other countries in Africa. In Rwanda, for example, women are granted 30 per cent seats in the national parliament by their constitution.

Together with similar successes being recorded in other countries in Africa, the myth of the African male leviathan is being gradually demolished elsewhere. It’s only in Nigeria the numbers have continued to remain pathetic. And it’s not only about representation. Everything Nigeria cuts differently, despite being large, educated and most endowed set of people on planet earth.

Politicians say the game is about snatching and running with it. Others say they come to kill and destroy. But history has proven that in the face of devastating challenges, women are endowed with the restorative spirit. They cannot allow things to continue to go down. We need a self-aware and uncompromising set of women leaders to upend the status quo.

The late Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, Margaret Ekpo, Gambo Sawaba, Dora Akunyili gave their best to deconstruct the theory of male supremacy.

They brought down kings and rattled the colonial administration. Akunyili destroyed the cartel of fake drug operators, those that ruined lives in the pharmaceutical sector and young lives of Nigerians. They have crept back since her demise. Another powerful woman, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, is doing her best, but the system has become more vicious. We need homebuilders to rescue that fabric of society where drug peddlers waste innocent youths.

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At the political level, this is the time to bring back the indefatigable spirit of Chief Sarah Jibril. Nobody gave her a chance at a time it was thought anathema to have a female presidential candidate. It seemed political mockery to have her stand side by side Gen. Olusegun Obansanjo in 1998/99, for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary.

Of course, she lost, but didn’t give up. At the next contest in 2003, she joined a less hostile Progressive Action Congress (PAC) and became the first woman to fly the ticket of a registered political party in the presidential election. She lost. In the PDP primaries of 2007, she got just four votes. In 2011, she again lost to Goodluck Jonathan. According to her, she wasn’t just active for the fun of it. She needed to gain a platform where she could instigate ethics reorientation in the country, as moral values go down the drain. She remains unforgettable and it is time to replicate her type.

Women are trainers at home and for the society. The impact generates ripples all over. That must not be constrained. Any society that takes delight in covering women and their capacities for whatever excuse is bound to fail. The numberof out-of-school children is alarming, mostly because the mothers are denied education.

An educated mother would value her child and would do anything to educate him/her. No educated mother would throw her child out of the door, to wander aimlessly without care. She would also not surrender the svelte, unformed body of her teenage girl for plunder by men in the name of early marriage.

Crucial developmental indices do not favour Nigeria. We are at the bottom of countries with lowest political representation among women in Africa. And we are not ashamed. No where is this more graphic as the Senate, where only four legislators out of 109 are women. In the House of Representatives, of the 360 lawmakers, less than 20 are women. It was not that bad during previous assemblies but the stakes are getting higher.

Politics has become the most viable enterprise in the country. Businesses are struggling and livelihoods are truncated by relentless economic downturns, particularly since 2015. Other ventures don’t yield as much owning a seat in the National Assembly.

They rake in millions every month in wardrobe and other allowances. They need to look elegant on the few occasions their seats are occupied. They have learned the tricks of survival and are not going to give up without a fight. This terrain has become vicious and some have laid waste opponents to get there. It is therefore not an easy lounge for women.

For the few that are there, we must congratulate them. It was not an easy road. However, for one or two female senators, they had their palm kernel cracked by benevolent godfathers. They were handpicked and their elections were favoured by bandwagon machinations. They did not go there to pursue any pet agenda of their own that could significantly ruffle the polity.

They are seen and not heard, not because they are not talented, they do not have different opinions from the programmed agenda of the majority. They are very useful when it comes to sharing rice and other palliatives to constituents. Our women can do far better.

At another flank, there are two who have been conscientised by training and activism to make a difference. Senator Ireti Kingibe came on board Labour Party’s pro-people posture. The FCT cosmopolitan nature made it possible for her to be there. She is not very outgoing, but her kind spirit desires a change in the way politics is run by a few and for a few. She lacked the support base to project her genteel voice on behalf of her constituents.

If there were more women, perhaps she could gain courage and affirmation. Her case is not helped by ungentlemanly character of stakeholders who could make her job easy. Her complaints against bullying tactics by administrators of FCT fall on complicit deaf ears. This is a paddy paddy government that has no room for dissent; you either shape up, shut up or ship out. Very unparliamentary.

For her type to survive, she is forced to struggle to survive. If it was possible to impeach her, someone would have done that long ago. It is important that the FCT electorate is conversant with her challenges, to failure assess her fitness for 2027, if courage doesn’t fail her.

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is a different composition. She was hewed in activism before she ventured into politics. She made sense in several intervention to get Ajaokuta Steel Company working. She is a walking encyclopedia on Ajaokuta. She has philanthropy as a gift, which she disbursed generously as a private citizen years back. That trajectory helped a lot in her constituency outreaches. She is sound for parliamentary debates and her views are unputdownable.

As a newspaper Editor, one had course to interrogate her politics. For her to survive the election macabre in Kogi Central was by dint of her uncommon resilience and divine help. Men of far more weight were subdued by former governor Yahaya Bello, but she survived. On the eve of the election, a grader was sent to ravage major artery leading to her constituency, as a destabilising ploy. It didn’t work.

I think the parliament needs more of Natashas. She combines beauty and brains, the type that intimidate unsure men. Let’s encourage them for the betterment of Nigeria, not to please malformed egos and debauched souls.

For our womenfolk, the ball is in your court. Political office is not served a la carte. President Tinubu said so. You have the numbers and the intelligence. What you need more is the courage to refuse to be politically timid.

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But on the home front, our women are not timid. Out of 10 debates they win 9. Let them take this boisterousness out to conquer Nigeria.

Note: This article was first published by The Guardian Newspaper.
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