How travails of women seeking elective positions worsened in Nigeria

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Women’s representation in the elective capacity is nothing to write home about

Women are suffocated! Discriminated against! The high cost of campaigns and GBV, hold them back from running for elective posts as told in this story 

Mercy Godwin, a native of Uruan, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria narrated how her ordeal started in politics when she vied for the office of a councillor in Northern Uruan Ward 2.
“We were asked to pick the party nomination forms free of charge; that it was a way of encouraging women to occupy elective positions that was what made me pick the form for a counsellor in 2011 which marked the beginning of my sorrow” she said.
Madam Mercy popularly called “Meme” who is now in her late fifties narrated in a trembling voice, “We (female aspirants) were later asked to pay the sum of N10, 000 roughly $22
Which I paid immediately because that was nothing to me. But the truth is that what is involved is more than giving women the free forms. We were suffocated! Discriminated against! The cost of campaigns (printing of posters, T-shirts, flyers etc) and consultations was overwhelming.
“I sold my properties and went ahead to get a loan from a Microfinance bank just to finance the elections because no one was willing to support me financially, I shouldered all the responsibilities alone.
“No one listened to me, and neither did anyone want to know what my manifesto entailed without me first of all presenting drinks and cash, I had to buy bags of rice, wrappers etc to consult even my fellow women.
“I also had a problem with “godfather” I did not have any godfather and I was just moving on my thinking that I will win the election as they made me feel, anywhere I went, people were already hailing me, ‘honourable.’
Meme narrated that having spent over a million Naira just for consultations and having sleepless nights for political meetings, she did not win the elections because she was told by the men in her community that she has married outside the area and should go to her husband’s local government to vie for political office and not her father’s house.
Also, one Udeme Ekpo who hails from Etim Ekpo said she nearly picked a nomination form of the All Progressive Congress for the 2023 elections because the cost of the form was slashed for women but when she learnt of what was involved and other people’s experiences,  she had to back out as she was not getting much financial support.
The turnout of women occupying elective positions at the end of every election in Nigeria since the democratic dispensation in 1999 has not been very impressive despite the critical role they play during the election process.
The low turnout however is not just because of their apathy to politics but has more to do with the unfavourable terrain they are left to grapple with.
Speaking with the Chairman of, Centre for Human Rights Accountability Network (CHRAN) in Akwa Ibom State, Franklyn Isong who is also a political analyst in the state regretted that male politicians only seek the services of women for a token during political rallies and drop them at the end of the exercise.
According to him, “It is annoying that every campaign rally must be populated by women of different age brackets, their presence is almost indispensable, they’ve been christened ‘occasion women’, adorned with colourful uniforms and headgears singing praises during party activities; all men in politics want them to grace their political outing not just because of the beauty they exude, but their voting strength and population, yet their representation in the elective capacity is nothing to write home about.”
Looking at the available records of women occupying elective or appointive offices, the attainment of the 35 per cent affirmative action proposed by the National Gender Policy is still a far cry in Nigeria as well as other states therein.
A report by the Gender Strategy Advancement International showed that women’s political participation in Nigeria remains at 6.7 per cent which falls below the global average of 22.5 per cent, the African regional average of 23.4 per cent and the West African sub-regional average of 15 per cent.
This ranks Nigeria 181 out of 193 countries on the equality index for countries with low women representation in governance.
In the 2019 general election, women occupied a paltry 67 seats out of 1,478, with none as President, Vice President, governor or Senate president.
In the just concluded 2023 elections; out of the 109 senators-elect, only two are female and out of the 988 state assembly seats, only 48 female lawmakers, representing 4.85 per cent.
In Akwa Ibom State however, out of the 26 lawmakers-elect into the State Assembly, only four are female which constitutes 15.4 per cent of the population in the House while the men are smiling home with 75 per cent population.
At the National Assembly levels, that is, the Senate and House of Representative seats in the state, no female member was elected unlike 2019 when the incumbent senator representing Eket Senatorial district and deputy governor-elect in the state, Senator Akon Eyakenyi were elected.
The abysmal representation of women is not unconnected with some factors which this Correspondent from interviews conducted in the field has revealed.

Factors Affecting Female Participation in Politics: 
The member representing Ukanafun state constituency in Akwa Ibom State, Charity Ido had identified finances as one of the kickbacks of females seeking elective offices in the state adding that if a woman attempts to be close to a man may be for financial assistance or any form of help, people would tag her a prostitute.
She disclosed that sometimes some people would demand monetary gratification that a woman won’t be able to provide.
She said, “Campaigns are so expensive in Nigeria, women do not have money or are financially empowered to run for elections and that is a big problem.”
Meme’s story on spending massive amounts in buying drinks, wrappers, bags of rice and other items for campaigns and settlement of some groups is also geared towards the high cost of elections in the society which is a huge burden to women.
The Vice Chairman of Mkpat Enin local government of Akwa Ibom. Hon Mercy Bassey in corroboration said sometimes men who can sponsor a female aspirant may be sceptical to do so because of fear that she will not be able to pull through because of her gender.
On his part, the Chairman, the Forum of Civil Societies Organisations in the State, Dr Harry Udoh expressed worry over the way politics is being played in the state saying that it was discouraging for women noting that the violence as well as the nocturnal nature of politics is non-conducive for women to engage in.
According to him, “Imagine if women were to step out every night, they will be considered wayward. Politics has been so monetised, a lot of women have to depend on their spouses and not many women have the kind of money that politicians have to run for elections. In our political project; for you to see people, you need to buy drinks (expensive ones) goats or cows as the case may be and that is not good enough. This act is even excluding the people not just women alone, but other men who have a genuine interest to serve but do not have the resources.”
However, the ceiling placed by the new Electoral Act overspending on elections had left much to be worried about than to be desired.

The Electoral Act

The Electoral Act placed the campaign spending threshold into different categories such as Presidential election N5Billion (approximately $ 11 million); Governorship N1Billion ( $2Million); Senate and House of Representatives N100Million ($217,000); House of Assembly N30Million($65,000); Councillors: N5Million ($11,000).
According to Angela Nkwo, Communications Officer, Nigerian Feminist Forum, some of the provisions of the electoral act have placed women in a difficult position to participate in politics.
She said, “The newly approved campaign spending threshold to a minimum of N50 million and N15 billion is nothing short of gender-based violence against women in another form.”
“How many women can muster such a financial war chest after years of discrimination, violence, and lack of opportunities?” She queried.
The Chairman of CHRAN on his part noted that the lack of enabling environment has discouraged women from vying for elective offices.
He said an environment where a politician must have a godfather that will give him a push to succeed is working against women who most of the time do not have such opportunity or have boys that would engage in thuggery for them.
He said, “The environment is not friendly for women, they are seen as weaker sex and instrument used to complete figures in the mobilisation of voters to vote and after which they are abandoned. The political parties are not helping matters even when they made the forms cheaper for women, the women don’t have godfathers that would give them a push, and some who may want to help may be demanding for sex.
“Most political meetings are done at night and women may be unable to go through all those hurdles. There is a lot of intimidation, you can’t see a woman go out in hostile areas in 2015 Senator Helene Esuene who went to Essien Udim for her gubernatorial campaign was attacked, the thugs nearly killed her if not the efforts of the security that went with her for the campaign that whisked her away, how many women can withstand that, that made her not to campaign in the entire district.
“Most of these godfathers administer the oath to anyone who they want to support and how many of these women are willing to take these fetish items, they are scared, that is the problem.
“Also, the problem of women is women, even the females may not even vote for their fellow women, you remember

Gagged

Sarah Jubril had only one vote which she voted for herself while other females who were there did not even vote for her.
“In Ebonyi State also, when Governor Dave Umahi jettisoned his presidential ambition for the president-elect during his party primary, he ran back to his party (APC) at the state level to pick up a senatorial ticket even though the party had already given it to a woman. The party turned around to employ its internal mechanism to give it to the governor, the woman protested and went to court she was chased from Abakaliki to Abuja, that is the hostile environment we are talking about.
“Look at Natasha Akpoti in Kogi who contested against the incumbent governor, she was almost killed, thugs waylaid her, shot at her car, her campaigns always marred with violence, she was almost framed up for sponsoring a known terrorist, she was gagged.
“What of Patricia Ette, she did well as a speaker up to the point the men folk ganged up against her with impeachment threats and she was finally impeached and after that, no female has ever occupied that office, I want to see female IGPs, female attorney generals give women the opportunity to breathe, because they have a lot to offer.
“But Akwa Ibom state is better off, at least we had and will have a female deputy governor, female deputy speaker, female commissioners, female heads of boards etc.”
Despite all the challenges facing women in parties, some stakeholders have proffered solutions.

Way Forward 
For the low turnout of women seeking elective political offices to be improved, there should be an urgent need to revolutionise politics and make it such that it will be inclusive and nobody is left behind. The political space should be opened by the men.
Speaking on this, the CSO boss, Harry Udoh said monetization of politics should be discouraged stressing that the ceiling placed in the electoral act is too high and should be brought down.
He said there should be inclusion of gender quota in the Electoral Act which will mandate political parties field women constitutionally with enshrined quota.
Udoh also harped on the need to have a direct primary in selecting candidates and not indirect primaries which according to him allows the elites to foist a candidate of their choice.
On his part, Isong, the Human Rights Activist said politics should be liberalized and women were given the opportunity to be State chairmen of major Political parties, Senate presidents, House leaders, and Speakers.
He said there should be law reforms, better laws that would give an equal playing field to all gender, saying that a woman who picked a nomination form should not be bullied even as he recalled an incident in the state where the nude picture of one of the elected female officials was circulated online few weeks after her victory just to cower her and force her to back out.
He said, “Our laws need reform, better laws that would give equal playing field for all gender, if a woman is bullied a man that is her opponent should be the number one suspect and should be disqualified immediately.
“Our laws should be amended to allow for independent candidature so that if a woman feels that she has the money, she can pick a form from INEC without going through a political party and contest because sometimes, these parties can be an obstacle.”
The Vice Chairman of Mkpat Enin Lady Bassey on her part said there is a need for women to start supporting other women to succeed speaking that most times women in politics do not receive adequate support from fellow women.
Meanwhile, it is not just enough to slash the price of nomination/expression of interest forms for women rather political parties should go further to sponsor the campaigns for these women so that they would not be overburdened with financial obligations.
There should not be any form of discrimination of where a woman is married, she should be allowed to contest any place of her choice.
Women on the other hand should arm themselves with the requisite capacity so that whenever the opportunity comes up, they would be readily available.
The Chairperson, Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Akwa Ibom State, Dr Idongesit Ashameri said women should not just seek elective positions because of their gender but based on what they have to offer to the people even as she encouraged them to leave a positive imprint in any office they occupied to encourage others.
“Before going to take up any elective position as a woman, have something to offer that has not been offered. Have a blueprint and let you be elected based on your capacity and not on gender. If you come porous, the men folk will intimidate you. Do not ask anyone to consider you because you are a woman, but rather because of what you can offer that has not been offered.” She advised.
This article is part of the African Women In Media (AWiM) Luminate Young Women in Politics Programme