Politics in Nigeria will be more civil when additional women get involved – Alabi

Boma Alabi is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and also a former president of Commonwealth Lawyers Association. In this interview with NGOZI OKPALAKUNNE, Alabi, who is also the founding partner of Primeral African Legal, spoke on several issues including the reasons for low women’s participation in politics during the 2023 general election and the need for political parties to effectively have a quota system to get more women on board. During the interview, she also spoke about the relevance of the theme of 2023 International Women’s Day (IWD). And she x-rayed challenges facing women lawyers and the way out. Excerpts:

How would you assess women’s political participation in the recently concluded general election?

Political participation by women in the 2023 election has not improved at all. If you look across the board in the positions and results that have so far been announced, which is practically all of it, you will see that it is predominantly almost exclusively male. We have one brave woman who is clearly beloved of her people, I have been following her political journey and that is Binani as they call her, and she is charting a pathway in uncharted territory and particularly for me it gladdened me that she is from the northern part of the country where these customary and religious restrictions are even more. I wish her well; I wish there were more women in the space, I want to advocate for the political parties to effectively have a quota system to get more women on board, because there will be more of a balance, there will be less violence, you will find that our politics will be far more civil when more women are involved.

What are your views about the 2023 presidential election and the aftermath? What lesson can Nigerian government and the citizens learn from the exercise?

The 2023 presidential election has its pros and its cons. Let me start with the pros. The pros, one of which is that we had three leading candidates emerged and almost equally divided the votes across board. They have a lot of interest from the younger generation who picked up their PVCs in order to participate in the elections. There was no voter apathy. The voters were very keen and willing to vote. Those are the pros. On the con side, there was widespread voter suppression by violence and by INEC also not showing up on time, to a lot of the polling booths across certain parts of the country and indeed in many of those booths not showing up at all. I was an observer in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area and so I had the opportunity to move around and see what was happening. I can assure you that there were several polling booths where voters were patiently waiting and no INEC official showed up. I went passed Dowen College in Lekki Phase 1 up to seven times. The last time I passed there was about 7pm in the evening and those voters had already queued patiently before 8am but unfortunately nobody showed up. So, it is disheartening. Also violence, voter suppression and what was quite intriguing, was how the BVAS worked perfectly for the other two positions that were being elected on the day the Presidential election took place- Senatorial and the House of Representatives- and then somehow it chose not to work perfectly for the presidential. It is odd indeed.

Nigerians in diaspora are advocating for participating in the voting process; what is your take on that?

I was once a Nigerian in diaspora and of course, one wanted to participate in the election process and should be permitted to participate in the election process. I think there is no reason, why we cannot do what other countries do, for instance, as a dual national- British and Nigeria- I can participate from Nigeria, in the elections going on in the United Kingdom and as a matter of fact, it is not just about nationality, it is also about being a voter on the electoral register. So, we need to address this and not disenfranchise Nigerians because they don’t live in the country.

International Women’s Day is an annual event. What do you think is the relevance of the celebration to women in Nigeria?

International women’s day is indeed an annual event, relevant to women all across the world including women in Nigeria. And certainly, not just to women but, to everyone because women’s rights are human rights and the theme of this year’s celebration is ‘bridging the gender digital gap.’

Bridging the gender digital gap is very important, I do not subscribe to women being profiled and made to work in certain fields and not other fields. It is also part of this gender discrimination that we are advocating against that has become so entrenched.

In embracing equity, women should be given every opportunity to work in any area and any field they are interested in, and not socialised to believe that certain areas are meant for men and certain areas are meant for women, as in the past where it is said, that women are not meant to be lawyers for instance or engineers or motor mechanics. Particularly with the digital age, we don’t need to talk about physical strength anymore as it is all about mental ability. When it comes to mental ability, men and women are equal. I think it is a good topic that we really need to expand on and see how best to embrace equity in the way we work as men and women.

Would you say that women at the grassroots are carried along during the commemoration; if no, what do you think should be done?

Women at the grassroots are not carried along as much as women who have access to communication tools like phones, social media space as well as electronic media like televisions among others. The more access we have to communication tools, the more information we have and the more women are carried along.

To that extent sadly, I would say, the women at the grassroots are not always carried along as much as they could be and should be.

Constitutional and political biases against women in Nigeria have been a lingering and indeed endemic in the country? What is the best approach to end the problem and every form of prejudices and injustices against Nigerian women?

I believe that the Nigerian constitution is largely fair to both men and women because our human rights are guaranteed in that constitution and as a matter of fact, our judiciary has used the Nigerian constitution to upturn harmful traditional practices that are discriminatory against women.

Take for instance, the Supreme Court judgment that was given saying that “the woman should have equal rights of inheritance” unlike what was obtainable in the past with harmful traditional practices. What is causing the bias is really customs and our beliefs which need to change. We really have to educate ourselves to understand that gender discrimination is bad and should not have a place in our culture.

Political norms and the way they practise politics here, is not friendly for women participation because of the fact that in our society and our culture and most cultures, women are the primary care givers for elderly relatives, children and so many other dependents who require care, and therefore meeting at night to hold late-night political meetings will naturally be difficult for a person in that position.

Also, the cultural bias where a woman who is out and about at that time of the night, is seen as somebody who is immoral, that also inhibits women participation in politics. We need to educate ourselves, we need to understand this cultural biases and confront them, call them out wherever we see them in order to get mindsets to change and get more inclusive in society.

In addition to that, I actually advocate that we allocate quotas to enhance equality as they have done in Rwanda and we have all seen it working. It is almost 50/50 women’s participation in the political space in Rwanda. I think we can advocate that and actually try it out in order to bring that level of participation in our politics.

You are a former president of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and now the founding partner of Primeral African Legal. Kindly share how you succeeded despite the entrenched prejudices against women in Nigeria’s society? What is your advice to young female lawyers?

My advice to young female lawyers is that they should not allow anybody to put them in a gender box in their work space. What a man can do, a woman can do. You are a lawyer, you are not a female lawyer per say, you are a lawyer first and foremost, you are a human being first and foremost. Your gender should have no place in your work space. Therefore, work as hard, be diligent in your work, if you see sexual discrimination, call it out and do not tolerate it, demand equal opportunities for yourself and when you get the opportunity, be professional and you will get to the top of your profession.

Are there challenges facing women in legal profession? What is the way forward?

Of course, there are challenges facing women in the legal profession just as women in any other profession or business or calling. Mostly, women are the ones who have to balance, looking after the home, in addition to maintaining their work and trying to progress in their work place. That is a common challenge across the board, even the legal profession has that challenge as well, women in other professions have that challenge.

Our profession also requires a lot of travel if you are an advocate. You may have a case in a court in Abeokuta today and have another case in Zamfara tomorrow.

Having to balance that with being a wife and a mother can sometimes be quite difficult with our society and our cultural expectations.

Another challenge that women in the profession face is again across board, women can sometimes be more vulnerable which is the area of personal security and protection. Some of the things that can assist women is; if there is more of a balance in responsibilities at home, there is a partner, a husband who understands that you are now a two-income couple who both go out to work and when we all return back home from work, we should also be working together to look after the things in the house. That itself will be helpful.

The mindset of the society has to change. Stop judging and criticising women and trying to put them in the box. Accept that they are equal partners in the work space and not some lesser being. Embrace equity.