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I confess: in spite
of my opposition to imposition by political parties, I have a healthy
respect for female candidates who managed to emerge, hurdles and all!

Think Sarah Jibril:
her one solitary vote at the presidential primaries of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP). Even PDP women delegates
omitted/refused/just-couldn’t-be-bothered to vote for Sarah. Add to
that, the time, energy and resources the president’s wife, prior to the
PDP Primaries, had put into mobilising women for these elections. I
thought that PDP women delegates would (at least) have voted for Sarah.
The excuse that the number of women delegates would not have
significantly swung the vote her way is irrelevant. If nothing else was
achieved, it would have shown that women in the president’s party were
listening to Mrs. Jonathan’s message.

I just cannot
imagine what it takes for any woman to emerge first as a candidate, not
to talk of winning or losing the election itself. The amount of money
needed to contest for elections is not for the faint-hearted, we are
told. Aspirants consider it a form of assistance when political parties
jettison or waive hefty nomination fees, as if all flag-bearers
actually paid the stated fees.

As a female, the
most important asset you need is a NAME. It must preferably be
politically heavy, financially able, and socially relevant and
impossible-to-ignore; otherwise, forget it!

Of course, if you
have skin as thick as elephant hide, then you can cope with the names
you will be called and the nude posters of you that will be
electronically generated to titillate.

What should a woman
do when she wants to aspire to even the highest political office, but
everything and anything conspires to curb her ambition? One may not
like the way many emerged without really been tested at primaries, but
then even among the men, how many were truly tested at primaries?
Senator Saraki and Oluremi Tinubu for instance, may never have emerged
as candidates in the course of things, but ONLY because they would
ordinarily not be voted for by men who form the majority in the
parties. Jumoke Akinjide in Oyo State only managed to emerge by the
skin of her teeth!

Saraki for
instance, would never have made it to the House of Representatives
eleven years ago, or the Senate, four years later. We can take that to
the bank because we have since seen how opposed some are to the idea of
a female governor, and not even because she is being allegedly imposed.
That she is now more experienced than her brother, to seek the office
of governor, imposition or not, than her brother could have dreamt of
at the time he became governor eight years ago, is ignored. Why did
those opposed to the Senator accept a less-qualified brother then, yet
ignore her achievements, which now place her in good stead?

We live in a
chauvinistic society; women are treated as second-class citizens, who
until recently, needed their husband’s consent to obtain a passport.
Then, these are not ordinary women but the Biggest Girls. They are a
sight for sore eyes, have great skin, look well-fed and
well-maintained; they are ‘yellow’, fine, educated, stylish, have loads
of clothes and jewellery to die for and do not lower their gaze when
talking to ANYBODY, not even men! Whether they are wives or daughters,
men would never vote for them even in spite of the qualifications that
they possess.

And if one is angry
that their emergence appeared seamless, favoured, imposed, it means one
is angry at the fact of birth or marriage. Shouldn’t one take advantage
of privileges conferred by providence, which political parties would
chauvinistically deprive them of?

As long as women
emerge, should we care how? A process so contrived to ensure that 35%
of seats which ought to be occupied by women, will never be, how fair
is that? Women have to wait until they are appointed before they can
get a look-in! Why? One dearly wishes that all these women actually win
their elections, just to show that Girls Rock!

It would be awesome
if women would come out in droves to vote for deserving women
candidates, I just can’t forget Sarah’s solitary vote!

Well, here’s to
some possible firsts: first elected female governor of a [Northern]
State in Nigeria; the first First Lady of a South-west state in Nigeria
to become a Senator and the first daughter of a former Attorney-General
and Justice Minister to become a Senator; Good Luck to every woman in
the elections!