Women getting approval for political appointments …Are women their worst enemy?

This is a topic that has been ringing in my head for long to spill on  what i think …what i honestly feel about our  women assuming  prominent leadership positions  in our Government establishments.

Can someone reading this think back to a couple of years when Madam Sarah Jibrin came out to contest for a ticket to be a Presidential candidate in PdP?  Some people said she aimed too high…for the impossible….that she could have started with the lower political posts and then ascend gradually.  Some argued that she was ripe for the post but it is just the Nigeria factor where women are looked down and banned from assuming certain leadership positions in the country that messed her up.  Oh sure…in as much as i feel bad using the word ‘’messed up’’ to a woman i admire so much, that was exactly what happened to her.

I was actually away from Nigeria when she started her dream for this hot seat in Nigeria and i only caught up with her activities during the time when her party was about to nominate candidate that will represent the party.  I remember very clearly what happened that day as i drove out with my sister who lived in Abuja to do her hair and the mall where we went to had this big TV screen featuring the PDP party convention in Abuja live. Lo and behold …i picked interest  noticing that Sarah was among the candidates. As i and other shoppers in the shopping plaza watched this drama with high concentration, most people were all focusing their thoughts on Sarah and what was going to happen to her that day…if she was winning or not…, some men just laughed so hard at her coming out for such position and called her courage to show her face in the midst of men who can go all out to do anything doable to win in politics…as a-‘’pipe dream that will continue to be in the pipe’’…(what do you want me to call it huh?…it was a political drama as far as i was concerned…pstttttt)

How exactly did i feel watching this same stuff?  In honesty folks, i knew Madam Sarah was one hell of a tough cookie….i admired her for her courage and also hoping that at least she can get some reasonable votes even if she did not win. What did i hear after the midnite convention concerning this fearless woman? Sarah got just one vote….1 korokoro..vote….which am pretty sure was hers as well.  Jeezzzzzzzz…i was mad with myself..for what precisely? I don’t know…i never had a voting card or belonged to PDP then because i was away from Nigeria but somehow, i was depressed. You are wondering if i was in Nigeria then would i have joined PDP just because of Sarah so i could vote for her? Absolutely!! Just to show my support and empower her for having the courage to even go on convention  alongside Powerful Nigerian male politicians who are ready to bite their opponents heads raw just to win. Gimme- a –damn- good- break….am i saying something you do not know  happening in this country or what?  when it comes to Nigerian politics and Government leadership positions?  Yea. If you allow most Male Nigerian politicians, they can bite off their opponet heads …’’raw’’ without any remorse!!

Now going back to Sarah getting just one vote(this is my main concern in this talk today)  the questions that i asked and still asked till today were/are –

Did this woman did her campaign all alone without male/female supporters?  What happened to her family and friends who did spent time with her then? How about her workers?  Does it mean she never had anyone or people that encouraged her to spend that huge money obtaining the PDP presidential Form etc?  At the end all she got was just one lousy VOTE? Where were all the women in PDP who campaigned with her? I am pretty sure there were women in that party who were doing stuff with her then? Where were those women duirng the convention or did they changed to another party overnite? Absurd and annoying huh?

So are women their worst enemy?  Listen, it is no biggie for a woman failing an election where desperate powerful politicians were involved. I can understand that but what is annoying is betraying a fellow woman knowing at the back of your mind she is not good enough for the cause she is running for.  I think those women who were in Sarah’s camp then would have saved her some shame and the dignity of womanhood by coming out outright and being honest with her, by telling her that this was a mistake …that she could never pull that through.

What ever the reason was/were for Sarah to have been abandoned by her team on that miserable day years back,  i still think most Nigerian women are not liberal and open minded enough when they encounter a brave woman taking up a huge task in politics like Sarah did.  She was humilated with just one vote where you had streams of women and these women sat comfortable watching her being crushed by her male opponets?  What a hight of female wickedness ..if you ask me.

In the just concluded elections that ushered in our present regime, one Lady from one of the northern states…can’t specify the state…also came out as a Governorship candidate. I only saw her on FB and immediately i endorsed her(she was not from my village) but i was following all the activities she was doing on FB. I made some enquiry about that woman and learnt she could perform in her state having been a Senator.  At the end what happene?   she complained of being cheated out.  Again, where were the women in that state?   See…if the women are waiting for Nigerian men to push them up on leadership positions in this country, you people are simply having a malaria dream…fever…

Once in a while, you see some men supporting some women with the courage to show their face but i feel the bulk of the job belongs to the Nigerian women where ever they are to support each other.

Hey ladies, why do you people hate fellow women who decide to take the bull by the horn to serve? If you are a shrinking violet…must you push other women to be  like you?  Do you even think it is a tea party for such women who always compete with men? Let us continue this talk on Twitter- @Jacquiworld. Do you think Nigeria will someday or never have a female President?

Finally i say to Madam Sarah Jibrin and other women who fought hard to serve, …keep your head high..it did not happen in your own time…it could happen some day!

 JACLYN IWU