Not Yet Uhuru

I have watched in awe and shock as women in the African polity and elsewhere are torn to shreds, by the society and even their fellow women. I cannot begin to understand why women dislike women so much and the entire society honestly and eagerly wait for women to fail, flop or flunk out of a position. It is necessary to say that women in the spotlight are on tenterhooks. I feel a lot of pity albeit reluctantly sometimes for these women.

I remember Patricia Etteh… the ex speaker of the house of reps in Nigeria, she was labeled as corrupt, maybe she was corrupt, but she apparently had no education or pedigree and was put there forcefully by the then president OBJ. well, she didn’t have an arsenal of people who could think on their toes and falsify documents in her favour, and she was found out by simply refusing to tell the difference between curtains, blinds and drapes or so the story went. I would like to state that many a man has done this in governments worldwide but because women usually have no arsenal of loyal friends and followers it’s probably harder for them to pull it off coupled with the fact that they are also not a thieving gender.

Deziani Allison-Madueke, has been sitting on a time bomb forever, women hate her and so do men, they have said all sorts of things about her, for instance that; she is the president’s girlfriend, she gave oil deals to her lover Chris Aire, and that she was sleeping with Wale Tinubu. Why in the name of Zeus does the polity involve itself in such damaging rumor mongering and character assassination?  It’s also being said that the president must send her away for oil subsidy or one of those things and that she has calmed down.

Arunma Otteh who left her seat at the ADB in Tunis to run SEC, has been blamed for wasteful spending and so on and so forth, things too many to mention, she even cried during a hearing at the senate, and accused a certain MP of corruption. I am worried for the future generations of women because apparently it is not yet Uhuru for women in Africa and most countries.

Yulia Tymoshenko has been in jail for a while now because she was the strongest opposition to the crazy Ukrainian president, the UN and Amnesty has asked the country to let her go but they have refused and are getting away with it, she has been called a whore and a corrupt person, Aung San Suu Kyi’s story is a bit different, extremely patient and understanding while subtly asking for her rights, she has been released and has subsequently won a seat in the parliament but she is still closely watched.

Okonjo Iweala is also deeply hated by the people because they believe that she is from a privileged background and that she influences the president, the entire oil subsidy brouhaha has been placed on her head, and as she was recently not appointed World Bank president, the entire nation has been laughing in her face.

Conspiracy theories emerge daily when women are in positions of authority, I wonder what Madeleine Albright, Condolezzza Rice, et al had to go through. Well, Diezani, Arunma & Stella Oduah are beautiful so I can imagine how angry stay at home mums must be, as for Ndi Okereke who has no look to attract the eyes and Ngozi  Okonjo who is plain-looking, I thought the public would be more lenient with them since they do not pose a threat to their self esteems but no way, they are equally scrutinized and ridiculed with reckless abandon. Is this due to their level of education? Evelyn Oputu of the Bank of Industry is apparently the only one who has been untouched and unscathed by the ‘brigade of war against women’. I don’t know how she does it but they have managed to leave her alone. Dora Akunyili has had her own fair share of criticisms, people labeled her as too ambitious and I learnt from the grapevine that a certain opponent told her to go home and cook for her husband and stop meddling in the affairs of men.

In Asia, they are more receptive to female leaders, Indira Gandhi, Sonia Ghandi, Mayawati, Pratibha Patil, even Pakistan a predominantly Muslim country prefers female leaders, Benazir Bhutto et al, Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Sri Lanka Chandrika Kumaratunga, Phillipines Corazon Aquino and Gloria Arroyo, Indonesia’s Megawati Sukarnoputri, Malaysia’s Wan Azizah, Thailand’s Yingluck Shinawatra et al. Will we ever get there?

I predict that there will be a female CBN governor in the near future and she better be ready. The country had better recognize that these are the best generation of women they might ever have because most of the new generation of women are only bothered about marriage, gossip, human hair, makeup and are extremely shallow and lack depth, the other percent that are really interested in the polity and are intelligent are either stuck in foreign lands with other passports while watching their country of origin as an amusement, don’t judge them.

As Ms Albright rightly stated.

There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women.

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~ Ada-mezie Ezumah

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If you are a constant reader of sheilaspeaks then you should know Ada, if you don’t then check out the ‘featured post’ category to see earlier posts that she has posted on here. Anyway I would like to know what you think, Do you think women in authority will ever have the freedom to lead especially in Nigeria, can we have our own Ellen Johnson Sirleaf or Joyce Banda?

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One thought on “Not Yet Uhuru

  1. “There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women”. My dear Sheilla I quite appreciate your seeming advocacy for the proper positioning of women in our contemporary society, particularly in Nigeria. I also like your flair for writing.Well done. I am particularly interested in the developments as they unfold about the woman from whose beautiful eyes tear drops were drawn in the national assembly. And who despite the disloyalty of her subordinates spoke in an adoring and golden voice in self defence. I am talking about that cerebral lady whose captivating intellect and charisma no man , not even her fellow women can pretend to ignore Arunma Otteh. I am so far extremely delighted that the Hon Minister for Finance in the recently concluded economic summit pointed out that though Arunma is on suspension she has not been indicted for abuse of office or misappropriation. She gracefully sat in that summit. That was very heart warming for me. Please recall the hasty manner in which Mrs Etteh – first female speaker in the House of Rep was relieved of office .Why has that not applied to Farouq Lawan and several others.This is double standard. I am not in support of mismanagement or corruption but Arunma Otteh should be given a chance, I think she’s got what it takes. Emmm…but don’t you consider the opening quotation too chauvinistic ?

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