IN the Coalition for Nigeria Movement, which I have advocated and is growing rapidly and whatever political association will emanate from it, youth under 40 years will have 30 percent and women will have 30 percent in composition of any of its organs. That composition must be transformed into political power at the executive and legislative levels,” former President Olusegun Obasanjo, said this while speaking in Lagos.
Chief Obasanjo is often misunderstood by his admirers and critics alike. By the time any of the two categories are thinking him one way, he is the other way, doing his things the way it suits him. That attitude has made him seemingly unique amongst contemporary elder statesmen of Nigeria. And whether one likes him or not, he does not care.
I admire Obasanjo because he is a diehard nationalist, a courageous patriot who can dare death anytime for his country. Yet, when he plays the “Ali Baba”, he is very conscious not to transcend the boundary as Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma could do, knowing the strength in words.
When Obasanjo talks, he does not talk for mere caricature, if the belief that spirits freely control humans was orthodox, one can easily conclude that the spirit that controls Obasanjo is of the political high class. Not because he has been on the corridor of Nigerian power for too long, Obasanjo understands Nigeria like a child can identify, play and sing with the alphabets. That is why when he speaks, those who are younger than Nigeria are at loss either trying to comprehend or undermine him.
Women advised to seek political education
Obasanjo wants Nigerian women to vie for the highest political positions in Nigeria, such positions as the president, vice president, senate president, speaker of the House of Representatives and the governor. However, the inability of the Nigerian women politicians to ascend to these positions is definitely not because of lack of physical qualifications. It is basically the mindset of the men. And if Obasanjo ratio of the gender population of Nigeria which he put at 50:50 is correct, then the women have not proven themselves. Only seven women are presently in the Senate of 109 members and only 15 women in the House of Representatives of 360 members.
I concur that women and their children are usually victims of maladministration and poor leadership. Nigerian women should, therefore, study the nation’s history to know who were Iyalode of Ibadan, Efunsetan Aniwura in the 1860s and the Sarauniya, Queen Amina. They should take Joyce Banda of Malawi and Ellen Johonson-Sirleaf of Liberia as models and examples of the strength in womanhood in Africa.
Obasanjo is querying how the 30 percent Affirmative Action Nigeria acceded to in Beijing in 1995 is being implemented. “The progress and development of any nation, I must say, is equal to the quality of women in that society.” That is because, he said, they are mothers, sisters, lovers, builders and pro-creators by divine design. Thus, women represent a tool for positive change, depending on how they are treated and the levels of opportunities given to them to actualize their potentials.
He wants the women to mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the next phase of the liberation struggles, which is to mount the saddle of political leadership for Nigeria to achieve its welfare and human development goals. He believes that the Scriptures established women’s equality with men.
- Muhammad Ajah
Abuja.