REVIEWING WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION AND PERFORMANCE AT THE 2011 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA. - Favour Omoye Irabor

Nigeria’s democratic culture is characterized by assassinations, lawlessness, illegalities, rigging, oppression, manipulation, marginalization and violence. Other issues are male dominated party executives, labeling, money politics, and innumerable social, cultural and religious factors. These constitute barriers to women aspiring and contesting for elective positions in Nigeria. In the 2011 general elections an increased number of Nigerian women defied the odds, stepped into the murky waters, aspired and contested for party’s primaries; many lost and only few emerged as candidates and fewer of them emerged as winners. The number and percentage of women who were successful at the polls in 2011 was less than the figures in 2007 and 2003.

There was only 1 female presidential candidate in the person of Mrs Ebiti Ndok of the United National Party for Development. It is doubtful if she eventually voted given issues she had with the administration of justice system. It should be noted that Sarah Jubril was a presidential aspirant under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). She lost at the party’s primaries. For a review of Sarah Jubril’s performance visit http://baobabwomen.blogspot.com/2011/02/womens-political-participation.html; http://www.learningpartnership.org/blog/2011/03/politics-sarah-jibril/.  There were 4 female vice-presidential candidates although at the time of writing this article the writer was unable to verify if their parties also adopted President Goodluck Jonathan as a consensus candidate, suffice it to say none of the big 4 political parties had a female vice-presidential candidate.

Whereas there were 36 governorship seats in the Federation, there were 348 governorship candidates with just 13 (2.98%) being women who were all casualties at the polls. It appears some parties agreed to adopt female deputy governorship candidates as there was generally an increase in the number of governorship candidates that had women as their deputy. At least four parties in Lagos State chose women to contest as deputy governors.  In 1999, only Lagos State had a female deputy governor in the person of Mrs Kofoworola Bucknor although she was later removed and replaced by Femi Pedro, a man.  In 2003 the number of deputy female governors increased to 2 (5.5%), it increased to 6(16.6%) in 2007. In 2011 there is only 1 female deputy governor in the person of Mrs Adejoke Orelope Adefulire of Lagos State who contested under the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).  

Out of the 109 Senators that emerged, only 7 (6.4%) are women. In 2007 there were 9(8.25%) female senators; in 2003 there were 6(5.50%) female senators whilst in 1999 there were only 3(2.75%) female senators. Female performance in the House of Representatives election was no less different from that of the Senate. Out of the 360 available seats women won only 19 (5.27%). This is an abysmal drop in the light of the success recorded in 2007, 2003 and 1999 where the figures were respectively 27(7.5%), 21(5.8%) and 12(3.3%), an arithmetic progression which was not sustained in 2011.

The 2011 general elections could be described as the year of “the mighty fallen”. There was indeed the whittling down of the influence of political god fathers as their candidates performed woefully at the elections. Nevertheless, it does appear that patriarchy, religion, vote buying, ethical issues, party intrigues and absence of internal democracy of political  parties constituted underlining reasons for the poor performance of women at the polls in addition to awareness by the electorate that they have the final say on who should represent them through their ballots. The fate of Senators Gbemisola Saraki and Iyabo Obasanjo Bello  who respectively contested for governorship and senatorial elections in Kwara and Ogun States typify the genre. 

Popularity of the candidates also determined the outcome of elections and not necessarily the platform the female candidates contested election. This was the case in the senatorial election in Anambra State, a traditional stronghold of APGA where Prof Dora Akunyili of APGA lost to her strongest opponent Dr. Chris Ngige of ACN who has an incomparable profound charisma.

Vote buying which was alleged by some voters may have influenced the voting pattern of some people.  Vote buying has implications for female candidates as many of them are not similarly situated economically with their male competitors and therefore, would not be able woe voters with money.

The performance of women at the just concluded 2011 general elections calls for sober reflection and an urgent need to re-strategize for the 2015 general elections. There is urgent need for internal democracy in the political parties to whittle down male dominated party executives. There should also be examination/assessment of parties’ primaries with a view to formulating and implementing reforms that will support a more level playing field.

The establishment of a Women’s Political Institute where parties and all female aspirants and candidates would be equipped with relevant skills that underpin the positions should be desired. The outcome would inform necessary remedial steps aspirants should take to address gaps to reposition them for exigency of electoral campaigns and elective office. 

The challenges ahead will truly test the motive of the first lady’s pet project – Women for Change Initiative. Will it take a recess now that President Goodluck Jonathan has won or will it start preparing women for 2015 general elections? The short term goal of getting women to participate in 2011 general elections may have been achieved although the writer of this article does not credit the Women for Change Initiative for the increased participation of women at the general elections. This is against the backdrop that women’s groups and other individuals have been on this campaign for a longer time and have been stating 30% or something higher.  The BAOBAB led Nigerian CEDAW Coalition Shadow Report submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women during its consideration of Nigeria’s 6th country periodic report in July 2008 can attest to this. Also, BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights (BAOBAB) has been working over the years to ensure comprehensive political education (not just voter education) and hopefully creating a space for experienced female politicians to mentor younger women interested in vying for political positions in future. Of course, the first lady lends her voice to a worthy cause and she deserves to be commended for pegging it at 35%. 

In the light of the foregoing, this article calls for a stakeholders’ meeting to review the participation and performance of women at the just concluded 2011 general elections with a view to chartering a fruitful course for women’s participation in future elections in Nigeria. Nigerian women need more than economic empowerment for success at the polls or largesse of the first lady. Political violence hinders women’s chances at the polls and in political participation.  Institutional defects that marginalize women must be addressed.

Favour Omoye Irabor
blessedi2002@yahoo.com; firabor@baobabwomen.org

WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: REVISITING THE PERFORMANCE OF SARAH JUBRIL AT THE JANAURY 20, 2011 PEOPLES’ DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES. by Favour Irabor

The marginalization of Nigerian women in political affairs and decision making is as old as Nigerian society and actually predates the advent of colonialism in Southern and Northern Nigeria. Indeed pre and post colonial traditional cultures and European culture were deeply rooted in patriarchy. The normative systems they independently produced were male-biased and dominated. The marginalization of women was also evident in all other spheres of life such as the family, economic, social, labour and other relationships. It is widely believed that the marginalization of women in political participation and decision making processes has been responsible for the exclusion of the interests of women in governance and development paradigms. 

For the 2011 Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) presidential election primary, Mrs Sarah Jibril was the only female presidential aspirant amongst the three presidential aspirants; Abubakar Atiku and the incumbent president being the other two. That the incumbent president floored the other two aspirants is perhaps not news and not surprising given the power of incumbency and the nature of Nigeria’s politics.  The outcome of PDP’s primaries especially with regards to the single vote cast for Mrs Sarah Jibril reaffirms the patriarchal nature of the Nigerian society and our body politics. It is also a reminder of an urgent need for all stakeholders to address the immediate and remote causes of Sarah Jubril’s poor performance.  No doubt, there were quite a number of female delegates at the PDP’s presidential primaries. What agitates one’s mind is why none of them voted for Mrs Sarah Jibril? Or could it have been that one of them voted for her and she forgot to vote for herself which is most improbable in this case?  A critical mind would also ask why the Honourable Minister for Women Affairs did not vote for Mrs Sarah Jubril assuming that she was a delegate and was at the convention. If she was and she did vote, then your guess would be as good as mine.  It is pertinent to ask how the Ministry of Women Affairs can truly assist women to increase their chances of representation when it fails to work towards their nomination at the parties’ primaries. It is not enough to provide funds for women who won primaries for their political campaign as support should actually start at the party’s primaries.

Some persons are of the opinion that Mrs Sarah Jubril’s poor outing could be attributed to the fact that she did not campaign at all as the tabloids only featured President Jonathan and Atiku Abubakar, and as such the delegates might not have known that she was contesting. Consequently, the delegates must have made up their minds on whom to vote for before being aware that she was contesting. Whilst this could be a possibility, however, this reasoning may be incorrect because Mrs Sarah Jubril is a veteran presidential aspirant and should understand that she ought to campaign and woo delegates to herself at the primaries. However, if the view that she did not campaign is correct, one should not lose sight of its financial implications for Mrs Sarah Jubril as the aspirants are not similarly situated. Prima facie, she is most likely to be economically disadvantaged amongst the three aspirants.  It is also pertinent to ask if she could muster the financial muscles of the other two aspirants. This reinforces the feminization of poverty especially in the context of Nigeria’s political climate. Given the politics of money that pervade our political landscape, would Mrs Jubril have been able to outwit the other two aspirants? Your guess is as good as mine.  To paraphrase Williams Shakespeare, the fault is not in Mrs Sarah Jubril, but in a political and party system that places value on money and not programmes or agenda or manifestoes of aspirants. It is also politics of god-fatherism. The accusations and counter accusations by the campaign organizations of the other two aspirants, should ordinarily question the suitability of the candidates which should have given the delegates the choice of voting for a less controversial candidate. This was not so.  

The outcome of PDP’s presidential primaries questions one of the strategies for achieving the fifth objective of the National Gender Policy, which is mainstreaming gender into party politics at all levels, Federal, State and Local Government Areas.  Given this strategy, does it mean that PDP honoured the fifth strategy more in breach than in its observance or does it mean that even the card carrying members of PDP and the entire delegates are not aware that emphasis is now on inlcusivity of women into party politics? Are the women delegates also not supportive of their own kind and by implication sold out on efforts geared towards women’s political participation and representation in decision-making?. Doesn’t the outcome frustrate efforts also made by NGOs and donor agencies in ensuring that women count and participate in the entire political process?.

The performance of Mrs Sarah Jubril indicates that we do not have a monitoring mechanism  in place to ensure that parties put in place structures geared towards mainstreaming gender into party politics.  It brings to mind the fact that the policy strategies remain a mere academic exercise, as they have not been used to develop and implement a viable action plan.  Politically focused women NGOs should re-strategise in ensuring women’s political participation. Efforts should be made to involve stakeholders in designing and implementing programmes that would de-emphasise money politics at every level.  Activities of NGOs should extend to political parties as well.  The process might be slow, but it is doable and achievable.  As an immediate step, politically focused women NGOs in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs should examine issues arising from the poor performance of Mrs Sarah Jubril at the PDP’s presidential primaries and the performance of other women aspirants at the primaries of other parties for other elective positions. This exercise must include the women aspirants themselves as their experiences would provide a road map towards strategies that could be developed to address the immediate and root causes of poor performance at political parties primaries by women. Lessons can also be learnt from female aspirants who scaled through parties’ primaries. This is crucial given the discriminatory return of male aspirants by some parties for second term elections whilst female aspirants are dropped to be replaced by another woman.  Given our patriarchal structures, affirmative action must be put in place even at the party level to ensure that the outcome is met. This can be achieved by waiver of nomination form fees for female aspirants and by aggressive campaign to deconstruct the mindset of politicians and de-emphasising politics of money bags. There is a need to legislate and monitor the source of funding of political campaigns of aspirants.
    
Shortly after Dr Goodluck Jonathan assumed office as the President, the First Lady Dame (Dr) Chief Patience Jonathan launched the Women for Change Initiative which had as its focus mobilization of women towards the 2011 general elections. It encouraged women to contest for elective offices.  The extent to which the initiative partnered with political parties to ensure that female aspirants win the primaries in respect of the elective offices in their various parties leaves room for differing opinions given the outcome of PDP’s presidential primaries held on January 20, 2011. The outcome of PDP’s presidential primaries truly makes mockery of the Women for Change Initiative. PDP’s presidential primaries was a litmus test of the true motive of the First Lady’s pet project. The question that comes to mind is whether the Women for Change Initiative was aimed at getting women to vote or whether it was aimed at encouraging women to seek for elective positions?  If the latter then PDP’s presidential primaries is an indicator of the charade embarked upon by the First Lady. 

I congratulate Mrs Sarah Jubril for aspiring and venturing into a political space seen as the exclusive preserve of men.  What Mrs Sarah Jubril has started will certainly not end with her. I am confident that there are a lot of competent women who will consolidate on the doggedness of Mrs Sarah Jubril and emerge winner of the presidential elections after the order of Barak Obama in the United States. Just as nobody gave Obama any chance of winning the Democratic Party’s primaries in the United States, let alone becoming the president of America, a woman will contest and win the presidential elections in Nigeria sooner than expected. It is gratifying to note that Liberia, a sister West African country produced the first female president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Africa at the end of the civil war in Liberia. We certainly do have qualified women to vie for the coveted office of the president in terms of suitability, intellect and experience in governance. 


Favour Omoye Irabor

E.mail: blessedi2002@yahoo.com

Tel: 07068459019; 08191608433