In the 2019 general election in Nigeria, Natasha Hadiza Akpoti made the brave decision to step into the country’s male-dominated elections ring. Under the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the 40-year-old barrister contested in the Kogi State Governorship election which held on the 16th of November 2019.
While the elections saw incumbent Governor Yahya Bello come out on top with a second term win, Akpoti’s participation in the election, fraught with violent kickbacks from the “powers that be” and an alleged assassination plan, was by far the most talked-about incident of the North Central state’s governorship polls, reiterating once again, the tilted scale and societal bottlenecks that constantly barricade women’s participation in politics.
Akpoti’s case is not new, it is, unfortunately, a common occurrence. Ahead of the 2019 general elections, which took place in the first quarter of the year, questions were raised with regards to the number of women elected into public offices. These fears where confirmed when, according to our “Where are the Women in Nigerian Politics?” report, only 4 female deputy governors were voted into office, a drop from 6 women in the last dispensation.
Women have not fared better in the Nigerian Senate according to the report, occupying 7 out of 109 seats and they do worse off in the House of Representatives, with 11 seats out of the 360 available occupied by women. These numbers show a less than 10% claim for women in both the upper and lower chamber of the National Assembly.
With Nigeria’s population comprising of approximately 49.4% women and 50.6% men, this disproportionate access to seats at the decision-making table is a major cause for concern.
The Cycle Continues
As Nigeria prepares for its first major elections since the Covid-19 outbreak of March, the case doesn’t seem to be different in both Ondo and Edo states where once again, women seem to have been relegated to the back burner.
In Edo state, the All Progressives Congress (APC) screened a total of six aspirants including incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki who jumped ship last minute. All six aspirants were men with Osagie Ize-Iyamu emerging the party’s candidate. Likewise, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state initially had four male aspirants only, before Obaseki became the flagbearer of the party.
The APC in Ondo screened and cleared 12 aspirants including incumbent Governor Rotimi Akeredolu. Of the 12 aspirants, only one woman threw her hat in the ring. The PDP in Ondo state did not do any better with a glaring absence of women among its 7 governorship aspirants.
It is rather disappointing to see that issues being discussed in the last election cycle still prevail more than one year later. With the 2023 elections drawing near, Nigeria’s exclusionary politics needs to be broken down to allow for equal representation.
This story is part of our new series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.
