Doctor Folashade Grace-Bent is a politician and former senator who represented Adamawa South Senatorial Constituency of Adamawa State from 2007 to 2011. In this interview with Linus Obogo, the former Senate Committee Chairman on Environment opens up on the forces that conspired against her return to the senate, the overbearing influence of the governors on parties’ affairs, as well as her regrets in bringing about the current leadership in the state. Excerpts:
You were not able to make it back to the senate. How much of your experiences do you think that your constituency and the senate have missed from all this?
That question is very weighty. Ideally, I should not be the one to answer such a question. You should have done an independent investigation, probably directing the question to people in my constituency. However, with the several calls I have received and visitations, as well as good comments from people all around my constituency, the people are really missing me. But one thing I want you to know is that we never really had a primary election in my constituency. So, I cannot blame the electorate because they were not given the opportunity to elect who they wanted. The electorate really wanted to give me a second mandate because they appreciated my performance in the Senate as they said that they had never had it so good since the inception of democracy in Adamawa State and the old Gongola State. They said that I gave them a representation that is still etched in their minds and really would have wanted a continuation of that but unfortunately, the conspiracy and the power that was, stopped it. But to God be the glory, all things work together for good. At least, I can walk with my head high. I have paid my dues. My legacies are on ground and no one can refuse to see them. They are tangible legacies that can be seen and felt and I give God the glory.
Given the number of women in both chambers of the National Assembly and particularly the senate, would you say the women have had a fair deal in terms of elective positions?
When you talk of elective positions, it is really on the downward trend. We thought that this 7th National Assembly would build on what we had in the 6th assembly. Unfortunately, it has decreased beyond our imagination. In the 6th Senate, we had nine women but I think we now have about seven. The House of Representatives has suffered the same decrease in number. It is really a very disappointing development. However, at the appointing level, I think Mr. President has done what I call the unusual. He has blazed the trail. I think that in our entire democratic experience, President Jonathan has given women pleasant surprise. He promised during his political campaign and he has done so well towards the fulfillment of the Affirmative Action. We presently have 35% women which is the starting point of the Affirmative Action. He can do more and we can even have 100%. So, I think in the appointing level, the government has done enough to give women enough spaces not just in the cabinet but in parastatals and other governmental departments and agencies. At the elective level again, I think that the political parties have not taken the bull by the horn by implementing the 35% Affirmative Action. It would not be that easy to achieve such except it is enshrined in the parties’ constitutions. What stops the women from occupying executive positions in the parties? What is women leader all about? It is so demeaning to the women folk! Why wouldn’t a woman run for the position of the office of the party chairman, National Secretary of the party, etc.? They just felt that there are exclusive to men. It is so ridiculous. Several other countries have gone beyond that. Until we have women occupying principal positions at the party level, we will continue to have low elective positions occupied by the women. So, certainly, that is the tragedy. It is a big tragedy. If something is not done about it, it would really affect the fortunes of our democracy. That is the fact and women must be part and parcel of actual decision process. Whether anybody likes it or not, I have said it at different forums that the future of this country and that of the world, lies in the hands of the women and the youths. Men have tried but have not given us adequate and quality leadership we so desire. We have been yearning for a man and a woman to be at the helms of affairs of this country as president and vice president. There is nothing wrong with having a female vice president for a start. You can liken Nigeria to a home setting where there is a man and a woman working things out for the betterment of the family. So, let women be given the opportunity and prepare them for the position of the president in the future. So, if we don’t begin now, we would find Nigeria stagnant, not moving forward. There is a paradigm shift all over the world, women are taking over and Nigeria cannot lag behind.
Would it be wrong to say that the decline in the number of women for elective positions in Nigeria is due to a seeming lack of quality representation or a vote of no confidence?
No! No!! The electorate wants women but they get thrown out at the primaries level. This delegate system of electing candidates for political positions is such a regressive system. It does not eventually bring out the best candidate for the electorate to vote for. There are many factors such as finance which the men use to push the women out in the primaries. How many women can muster the financial muscle to compete with the men in the delegate system at the primaries level? The money is not there for women. And that is why I always advise the women that whenever they are in position of authority, it is incumbent on them to make good use of it to promote their fellow women because Nigerian politics cannot be totally divorced from money politics. The level of poverty in the country is so terrible that when you come out for elective positions, your constituent believes that you are a money-bag. Women are not money-bags. That is why I said that except there is a conscious effort on the part of the political parties to give a number of seats as it were to women, it would be difficult. Some political parties don’t even believe in this primaies of a thing. They just choose those who are electable and can perform. If we are talking about internal democracy, let’s practice that with human face. Ours has no human face. There is a lot of godfatherism and the governors are not helping matters. The governors are the ones who just wake up from their sleep and say I don’t like this and that face, choosing indiscriminately to suit themselves. So, the governors are majorly the clog in the wheel of democratic progress and for internal democracy. The governor is the one that chooses who goes to the House of Assembly, the local government chairman, National Assembly, etc. So, it is much of a problem. It is not about the lack of confidence on the part of women. No! No!!No!!! A lot of electorate really wants women to come out and contest but when the governors influence the delegates to vote for candidates of their (governors’) choice, it becomes a problem to the women. There is so much interference as merit is sacrifice on the altar of mediocrity where somebody just feels that he needs his stooges to take charge. And when this happens and continues to happen, it will stifle development and the country would be run aground. It is in the interest of the general public for the best candidates to emerge but unfortunately, the dilemma of the women folk in Nigeria is the fact that the woman has become totally alienated not because of lack of merit but because she does not have the economic power to compete with the men. Of course, you know that men have always controlled the economic power as well as the electoral process. If equal opportunity is given, several women would emerge as governors of their states. But the situation is very pathetic. We hope and pray that things will change for the better.
Having identified governors as a cog in our democratic wheel, what do you think can be done to whittle down their overbearing influence?
The problem, unfortunately, is that the governors do have their ways because the political parties often play into their hands. They will always say that the governor is the leader of the party. So, there is no party supremacy as it were. If you look back to the Second Republic, during the era of NPN, the party was so strong that it dictated the tunes and determined who was competent to carry it flags. But when you make the governors the party leader in their various states, the loyalty of party chiefs will swing towards the governor because they are the main financiers of the parties in the state. They release money to the parties and enjoy control of the parties’ apparatus. And that is the tragedy.
If the party can be autonomous and run its affairs independent of government’s control, we will achieve democratic progress. But a situation where party leaders keep running to the governors to beg for money, it will continue to subject it to the whims and caprices of the governors. He who pays the piper dictates the tune.
But this needs to be addressed because it is a total disaster. The parties must start to assert itself. There are so many ways of generating funds for the parties and they must start brainstorming towards generating ideas on how to fund themselves and be financially autonomous.
The parties should not just wait for the governors to fund them. It is laziness on their part. There are individuals who can be taxed and several other ways towards making the political parties completely autonomous. All members of a political party must be subject to and submissive to the party. Nobody should be above the collective will of the party.
Madam, you are from Osun State but you represented Adamawa South senatorial Constituency in the sixth National Assembly by virtue of marriage. Did this in any work against your second attempt at going back?
Yes, it did. But unfortunately, the few elite who were doing this propaganda of not hailing from Adamawa State, just did that for their selfish interest. I have never seen myself outside of Adamawa State. I have always been Adamawa in good and bad times. And that resulted in my unusual landslide victory in my first attempt.
As I have said, the governor never allowed my primary election for the second term to hold for reasons best known to him. The people did not really have the opportunity to say that we don’t want this woman. That was what you would hear from the likes of the late Paschal Bafyau who later realized his folly and apologized and reconciled with me before he died. May his soul rest in perfect peace. If we should continue to carry politics of ethnicity and religion to our day-to-day relationship, the end result would be counter-productive.
Adamawa State has really set a precedent in this country. They have proved to Nigerians that it is not about where you come from. I remember that when some of my opponents raised this issue that this woman was a Yoruba woman, the electorate just called their bluff.
My constituency of nine local governments which is the largest senatorial district in Adamawa State has about twenty four different ethnic groups and two major religions, yet, they put all sentiments of ethnicity and religion aside to vote for me massively. And I am telling you, if I contest for another elective position in my constituency, I will win over and over again.
My constituency enjoyed my representation and they have told me that they are waiting to return me back. The beauty of democracy is what we have experienced in Adamawa State and if other state would take a cue from here, you will see the greatness of Nigeria.
My legacies are on ground in Adamawa State. I did not take them to Osun State. I used my senatorial position to develop my constituency and its people and I will do more if given the chance again. It is archaic for anyone to think ethnicity in politics. People don’t run such politics again. If you sample ten Nigerians, you will realize that seven out of them are inter-marriage compliance.
So, inter-ethnic marriage is a silent integration that has been taking place in this country. The dilemma of women married outside their locality is when they want to venture into politics or when they want to look for federal political appointments, politicians begin to use non-indigeneship as a weapon.
It is ridiculous! Obama’s father is from Kenya for God’s sake. Why is America prospering? It is because America encourages other tribes, languages, races, foreigners, to come in and develop the country. It is about who you are, what you can do and the contributions you can offer the society you find yourself in. And that is the only way Nigeria can move on. I know the few people that were beating the ethnic political drum are regretting it now. They are very negligible. Ask Professor Jubril Aminu. I am still loved by the people of my constituency. Let us start talking about merit rather than ethnicity. That is the only way forward for Nigeria. It is the only MasterCard for progress. Nigeria is a great country with so many credible people. Let them come out and contest rather than mediocres parading the political scene.
It would be recalled that you and two of your former colleagues in the last senate were very instrumental to the emergence of the leadership in Adamawa State. But things took a turn for the worse in you and others’ relationship with the governor. At what point did you identify your differences?
Yes, we played a role in the emergence of the government in the state. Unfortunately, politics is a terrible and very interesting game. I love politics and I know that it is a very interesting game if people play by the rules. Unfortunately, politicians are the very dirty people, trying to make politics look dirty.
We all came together and said that this is the person we wanted. But in Nigeria, I have come to realize that politics is a concentric circle of conspirators.
In other words, when you help people to attain their goals or help install people in political offices, such people will turn around to bite you for their own selfish reasons. It is such a complex matter. And I have come to realize that people who indulge in such acts, end up dragging themselves down.
You cannot bite the finger that feeds you. Jubril Aminu is a very meticulous politician. He is a very principled politician. He was the link man then between the state and the former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
They felt that the party needed to be overhauled and Professor Aminu did a very good job. But unfortunately, we are where we are today for reasons you already know. That has become history because whatever has a beginning must surely have an end.
My primary concern now is for my constituency to develop and my state, Adamawa to progress. I have tried to put a lot of things behind me. People must learn from history.
A lot of us have learnt from history and we pray to God to go back to the drawing table. I have learnt that the issue of godfatherism and imposition of candidates on the people does not really work.
Let the people choose who they want. Let the people decide who will carry their flag. A lot of us have seen our follies and have learnt enduring lessons.
No comments:
Post a Comment