2023 Presidency: Adesanya-Davies and Other Women Eyeing Buhari’s Job: Can A Woman Get it! -By Harrison Nwachukwu

Recently, Bishop David Oyedepo said, “God can give Nigeria a female President” and in fact God can pick Nigeria’s next President from his Church. Speaking, he was quoted to have said: “Don’t get me wrong, God can pick a president from this Church. That President could even be a female.” – Oyedepo made the remark while he spoke during a sermon at the church’s headquarters in Ota, Ogun State on Sunday 23rd. The clergyman urged the members aspiring for political positions to always seek counsel.” In the words of Bishop Oyedepo, “It is important for me to mention this to members of the church because another time is here now.”

There is currently a growing heated debate on who will take over from Buhari at Aso-Rock to become the next President of Nigeria come 2023. The Presidential candidate of MAJA in 2019 presidential election, an academic and a Christian female politician currently a PDP PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRANT for 2023 elections is on the front line. She says, “I have a dream, that one day, a woman will become the president of Nigeria and the dream is now.”

Three women in Nigeria amongst others already eyeing Buhari’s job so far, are namely: Presidential candidate of Mass Action Joint Alliance (MAJA) in the 2019 election, Prof. Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies (PMA), an academic and communication expert, who made her declaration on 8th December, 2021 in an audacious bid as she did in 2018. Second is the founder of Sozo Women Foundation, Joyce Ogochukwu Nsaka, who has joined the Africa Democratic Congress (ADC) to realise her ambition; making her intention public at their national secretariat of ADC in Abuja, on 18th December 2021. Third is Khadijah -Okunnu-Lamidi, a female entrepreneur and youth development advocate, who also recently declared her interest this year, on 4th January, 2022 to run for the office of the President in the 2023 general elections.

It is a fact that by next year, “the curtain will be drawn on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. But while he is still the present occupant of Aso Rock, the seat of power, in Abuja, political gladiators and their political parties have started scheming and jostling for PMB’s lofty seat” according to Zubaida Baba Ibrahim. Ahead of 2023 elections, not only Nigeria, but the entire global community expressed unbridled joy over the emergence of Mrs. Samia Suluhu Hassan as Tanzania’s new President. The 61-year-old was Tanzania’s immediate-past Vice President until March 19, 2021, when providence made her the first citizen of the East African nation following the demise of President John Magufuli.”

He expounded, “But unlike as in Tanzania, 60 years’ post-independence, Nigeria, Africa’s Giant, is yet to have a woman holding even the seat of the Vice President. It is pathetic to note that the efforts of amazons like Mrs. Sarah Jibril and Prof. Remi Sonaiya is yet to emerge the Nigeria’s first female president in past general elections. Firstly, it should be noted that the political pertinence of Nigerian women is not up for debate. Over the years, hundreds of women gather at various political rallies to demonstrate their support for their male equivalent through advocating, campaigning and mobilising others to vote. Beyond that, come election day we see them trooping in magnificent numbers, the elderly and the youthful, queuing up to cast their ballots for male candidates.

Further “To solidify this standpoint, out of 84 million registered voters nationwide in the previous national elections, women accounted for over 40 million, this means they make up to 47.14% of total eligible voters which can be a measure to the remarkable increase of women’s participation in politics. Despite this all, there is a deep-rooted level of under-representation of women in politics when compared to male counterparts. The deficiency of women holding political offices can be linked to a few factors beginning with the female folk conception of politics which is the belief that Nigerian politics is based on high political vigour which only men possess; the competitiveness to compete in chaotic environments, the strength to take it by force when force is required.

Women’s perception of politics as a dirty game has further estranged them from the idea of mainstream politics. Another ingredient is political campaigns necessitates rock-hard financial backing for it to be successful. Women’s historical experience of discrimination with division of labour and job opportunities offered on sexual basis has given the menfolk more productive roles which favours them to the disadvantage of the womenfolk. Adding to that, financiers prefer male candidates due to the assumption that they (the men) have more prospects.

These major points noted above coupled with many other factors are the same reason why Nigeria needs more women to strive for political office. The poor representation in governance has become an enabler of discriminatory act, marginalisation and social closure which results to one group usurping all opportunities of bringing the other group down through seclusion and displacements. This is not in any way due to the capability of the women being substandard. In fact, there is an exclusive group of female presidents who have laid the foundation for future female leaderships, some of them who have left an emblem on politics in their respective countries.

Let’s take Nobel peace prize laureate and former Liberian president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who is the longest-serving female president in African history. Beyond her pioneering election, Sirleaf had made gigantic steps during her presidency by committing to nonviolence and peace-building processes in her country. Another example is Malawi’s first female president, Joyce Banda, whose bookkeeping measures have helped lift monetary suspensions from Western donors to Malawi and bring back cash injections from the International Monetary Fund, IMF. These role models show that women can perform wonderfully in governance and shaping countries’ development.

Using certain policies, policy makers should seize windows of opportunity of approaching national elections to promote women’s participation aggressively through urging political parties to move female candidate to the top of election lists and into leadership positions. They should demand women’s inclusion in transitional institutions, especially constitution-drafting bodies, through pushing heads of state and government to exercise gender parity in executive appointments.

“There should also be programmes that fund urban and rural campaigns that publicise women’s contributions and ability to lead, that also provide financial and technical backing based solely on candidates’ prospectus irrespective of gender. Women politicians can also establish mentoring programmes to support and encourage others to run for office. Women in all levels have been put at the backdrop politically for years and this has inclined them to reduce themselves as tools for political success for male counterparts who, under the guise of women movements advocacy, use it as a plan to gain political power or strengthen the power. Therefore, women should reject empty promises and petty gifts and support their women folk for this is their responsibility and it is even good basis for achieving gender equality and equity. (Ibrahim, a political activist, wrote, from Wuye District, Abuja.)

In this endeavour, I therefore present the three women who have so far declared as 2023 presidential aspirants eyeing Mr. Buhari’s prestigious job. First is the Ex-Presidential candidate of Mass Action Joint Alliance (MAJA) in the 2019 election, Prof. Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies (PMA) who declared her interest to contest during the 2023 general election for the President of Nigeria on December 8, 2021, under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday, in Port Harcourt. While speaking to a group of journalists, she has also urged all Nigerian women to participate actively in the political process at all levels in 2023. Adesanya-Davies said, “I will contest! I have a dream, that one day, a woman will emerge as the President of Nigeria, and the dream is now!!!

“We, women shall try our best in 2023 at all levels and this we promise. From now onwards, she admonishes, every woman should endeavour to speak to at least fifty women to vote for a ‘woman President,’ in Nigeria. Tell five women daily from now till 2023 elections. Remember, Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Your happiness starts from you and not from someone else.’ So should all the Nigerian youth and all the ‘he for she’ and all the men campaign and vote for the first female president in Nigeria in 2023. This could and would be the only functional approach.” She added.

Adesanya-Davies is the current Country President and International Director of United Nations Positive Livelihood Award Centre (UN-POLAC) International Peace Advocates. She stated that when intelligent, dedicated and women of excellence are empowered and put in top political positions, corruption, lack of development and all forms of vices and violence in their entirety can completely be exhumed from Nigeria. As such, towards 2023 elections, she explained, we need all hands to be on deck to mobilise all women in the country from the state level to the grassroots, educated, illiterate, northerners and southerners, Christians and Muslims to vote for ‘a women president,’ and also vote for women at all levels. Though the educated women who realise this are fewer they should drive their non-educated women in the larger community in the grassroots to achieve this goal and vision.

Professor Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies, a linguist and educationist, has served as a university lecturer and administrator for 36 years. She is also a consultant, researcher, activist and a frontline politician. We would recall that towards 2019 elections, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) had endorsed her Presidential candidacy on the 8th day of June, in Port Harcourt and at the same event, she was awarshed with an Award of Excellence in Service and Outstanding leadership; with the inscription on the plaque “In recognition of her consistency, steadfastness, developmental strides, motherly disposition and mentorship towards the students community and society at large.”

In words, “My AGENDA is named “PMA – ADVANCED RESTRUCTURING AGENDA”. As an academic, Nigeria will witness functional, effective, efficient, accessible and affordable education, as well as better governance, delivery of dividends of democracy, massive employment, accelerated economic development, improved health delivery, massive human capital development, massive infrastructural development, aggressive fight against corruption, improved welfare for Nigerian workers, and the masses, when I, PMA – CHOICE, becomes the president of Nigeria. As a detribalised Nigerian, services of technocrats shall be fully utilised to its maximum.”

According to her, women have pledged to support female candidates in 2023. She stated that on November 27, 2021; women rose from a 2-day conference in Abuja with a resolution to support female candidates vying for political offices and stop waiting for men to help them get elected. Adesanya-Davies said, “The women, drawn from the academia, political, civil society, media and security sectors, agreed to support fellow women even as they called on women across the country to register to vote in the 2023 general election. They also encouraged women to contribute money to support female candidates and stop depending on men to fund their campaign.”

“The women said that until more women are put in decision-making positions, issues affecting them will continue to be on the back burners. While welcoming participants to the conference, the Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Ene Obi said the conference with the theme: ‘Women, peace and society,’ was an opportunity for a “deeper reflection on gender perspective of the rising insecurity which threatens, not just our national unity, but our individual and collective peace. We continue to see conflicts fought on women’s bodies. We have seen women used as weapons and targets of violence. The disproportionate impact of insecurity on women and girls – children cannot be ignored. We therefore must act as fast as possible to stop this expanding insecurity in Nigeria. Acting requires Nigeria to operationalise, in all regions of the country, the provisions of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which enjoins all states to facilitate women’s participation and leadership in peace and security, and which Nigeria committed herself to.

“Acting requires Nigeria, not to be doing this in piecemeal, but to be holistic in her response. This implies ensuring that all states are prepared to domesticate and implement the action plans. “Therefore, the time to act is now. There is no better time than now to enthrone peace. And without women and girls sitting on the table and being part of the peace processes, there will be no advancement in peace and security in the nation.”

The statement also quoted the Acting High Commissioner of Canada in Nigeria, Kevin Tokar, in his contribution, as having argued that gender inequality and lack of respect for women’s rights accounted for growing levels of violence, conflict and instability in Nigeria. He said: “I am sure all of you here today would agree that finding solutions to these problems will depend on Nigeria’s ability to involve more women in decision-making processes, whether in national or state assemblies, in the policing and justice systems, in community-level peace building and governance, and in the highest levels of the business world.

It could be recalled that the Emir of Keffi, Alhaji Shehu Yamusa III, on 16th. September 2021, called on Nigerian women to show interest in the Presidency, to succeed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in 2023. The Emir was quoted to have said that it would not be impossible for a Nigerian woman to succeed Buhari. He said, “Nigerians, regardless of their ethnicity or political affiliations, must separate cultural sentiments from politics for the best leaders to emerge in the country.”

The monarch, who is also the Chancellor of Nasarawa State University, was reportedly to have made this statement when members of the National Democratic Institute International Working Group for Supporting the Advancement of Gender Equality programme, visited him in his palace. Among the team was the first female President of the Republic of Kosovo and leader of NDI’s SAGE delegation, Ms. Atifete Jahjaga.

The Emir further said, “Most importantly, I will like to draw the attention of the entire nation to the fact that culture and politics are two different things. We often mistake the two for each other, and that is why most women can’t come out to contest for elective positions. But they are part of us, and we must carry them along. Going by their performances in our various houses, I think we should give them a chance in the next general elections. If women can manage families, they can manage the country.” He, therefore, stressed the need for all political actors to respect the role of women in the struggle for power as ‘we all have something of value to offer’. The traditional ruler further stated that women could provide the kind of leadership that Nigeria needs by supporting each other to win elections in 2023, and ensuring proper management and equitable distribution of the country’s resources.”

Similarly on December 18, 2021, a female presidential aspirant Joyce Ogochukwu Nsaka, emerges, joins Africa Democratic Congress (ADC), towards 2023 poll to realise her ambition. She is in person of the founder of Sozo she made her declaration at the ADC Secretariat in Abuja, Nsaka lamented the current system of governance in the country which she said encourages divisiveness.

According to the female politician, “Nigeria has been through a lot. When you go to China and many other countries, most of the companies there are owned by Nigerians. “We have no country of our own as Awolowo refers ‘we have no nation of our own but a geographic expression. ”While speaking further, Joyce Nsaka said she was 16 years old when she first saw herself as a leader in Nigeria and this propelled her during her university days at University of Benin where she fought corruption. “In 2018, I had a vision of Nigeria as a number one nation in the world. Forces fought against it “I had another vision in 2020 shortly before the EndSARS. “So, I am here because I have clarity of vision, direction and purpose.”

She applauded the hand shake logo of ADC which she said was what caught her attention when she went online to peruse the current political parties in Nigeria and discovered that ADC is a credible alternative political party in 2023. On the issue of insecurity, Nsaka proposed the use of technology in tackling insecurity in the country. She also emphasized the need for youth inclusiveness in government and job creation as panacea to the current security challenges in the nation.

Also speaking, National Chairman of ADC, Chief Ralphs Nwosu, encouraged more youths to seek for elective positions in the coming general elections understand the ADC platform. He said, “I am ready to relinquish my position for a younger and youthful person as the National Chairman of our great party, the ADC.” The event had notable persons which include: Chief Ralphs Nwosu, National Chairman of ADC; Alh. Said Baba Abdullahi, National Secretary of ADC; Barr. Ifenda Oligbinde, Director of Communications of ADC; Barr. Maurice Ebam, National Youth Leader of ADC and Interim Chairman, Forum of Youth Leaders of Political Parties.

Again, on 4th, January 2022 ahead of the 2023 general elections, another female aspirant, Okunnu-Lamidi declared her interest in 2023 presidency, she pledges better Nigeria. A female entrepreneur and youth development advocate, speaking at a media conference in Lagos, Okunnu-Lamidi, a social impact practitioner and player in the Nigerian media and advertising space, disclosed that her motivation in vying for the Presidency stems from her desire to make Nigeria work for its diverse populace, while also harnessing the undoubted power of its teeming youths to unleash the nation’s latent potential as a force to be reckoned with globally.

‘‘Nigerians of our generation believe in the promise of an equitable and just political union which consolidates the diverse strengths of our people and which harnesses the vast untapped resources of our great nation for the common good. Nigerians of our gender believe that we are heirs to the same promise and that our contribution to the character, stability, peace and progress of Nigeria deserves recognition and reward. ‘‘The challenge of the Presidency is to make Nigeria work for all of its diverse peoples. It is the most powerful office in the land, but it is a place of service, responsibility and duty, and not a place of arrogance or show. Nigeria is not working for us.”

The entrepreneur contended that youths under the age of 30, who represent about 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population, have borne the most impact of bad governance, adding that the young people account for 13.9 million of the unemployment figures, which stood at 21.7 million in the second quarter of 2020. Further, she disclosed that “life expectancy at birth in Nigeria, which stood at 60.87 years in 2021, is one of the lowest in Africa and in the world,” noting that “the infant mortality rate hovers at 57.701 deaths per 1000 live births. A President for all Nigerians must have integrity, competence, a 21st Century vision, energy, empathy and compassion for all our people and more so, for the weak, the dispossessed and the disenfranchised,” she stated.

The deficiency of women holding political offices can be linked to a few factors beginning with the female folk conception of politics which is the belief that Nigerian politics is based on high political vigour which only men possess; the competitiveness to compete in chaotic environments, the strength to take it by force when force is required. It is now obvious that the Nigerian women are sincerely and seriously ready for the 2023 presidential bid if they can secure the tickets during the primaries. We wish them all the best and may the Almighty God support their vision to change the nation on the forefront.