Amina Zakari as INEC chairman

In spite of the noises of a few brave feminists, Nigeria is still at heart a male dominated traditional society. There are many in our country, including some women, who think that in a setting like ours where politicians are so desperate for power and can do anything and everything in order to win a […]

In spite of the noises of a few brave feminists, Nigeria is still at heart a male dominated traditional society. There are many in our country, including some women, who think that in a setting like ours where politicians are so desperate for power and can do anything and everything in order to win a lucrative office, a woman is not suitable enough for the tough, trying and tempting job of INEC chairman. Amina’s case is not helped by the fact she is every inch a woman: pretty-faced, mild mannered, soft spoken and a princess with a dignified royal carriage. Unlike some of our misguided women who do not seem happy that God created them women and who therefore seek every opportunity to project themselves as the miniature version of bad men in the mistaken view that that is what will get them attention, she does not present herself, in words or action, as an iron lady.
Some Nigerians, I guess, expect that if a woman must be made INEC chairman, she should be a trousers-spotting , possibly, a bra-less top wearing woman who knots her hair in a ponytail and cuts the image of a harrigan who speaks rapidly like ammunition issuing forth from a revolver. To Nigerians with such a mindset, Amina is a disappointment in that regard. But we do not need a garrulous, iwuru-wuru and gra-gra person like a former INEC chairman we had not too long ago whose name I will not mention! We need someone who is calm, cool and collected; someone who will take the criticism and sometimes unfair accusations that are certain to come, in his or her strides. And Amina meets that criterion very well. Three, lingering resentment against women in largesse/patronage-dispensing positions.
It is generally believed that women are not as kind as men. There are some men, and women too, who do not like women to be appointed to certain important positions where patronage has to be dispensed to the business and patronage-seeking political and bureaucratic class as a whole. Many men just find it awkward or uncomfortable to approach women for favours and therefore just resent any woman who is in such a position. I guess it is a baggage women in Nigeria have to wear at least for a while until men become more mature in their thinking in that regard. Four, there is also the case of tactical and timing error in the release of her appointment.
The President in his obvious innocence had thought that the lady was eminently qualified for that position and saw no qualms in approving her appointment on the basis of merit and suitability. Unfortunately, there was a timing and tactical error in the way and manner her appointment came up. Amina’s appointment was announced about the same day the appointment of Lawal Daura, another Northerner was made, naming him as the acting D-G, DSS. The President should have learnt from the good tradition left of appointments by Obasanjo. Whenever the former president thought of making significant national appointments, he tried as much as possible to make them in batches and ensured that whenever a batch came out, there was something in it for every region and political stakeholders. Let no one pretend about it, in Nigeria we still see appointments largely as an invitation ‘’to come and chop’’ so no matter how supposedly enlightened any Nigerian is, whenever appointments are made, he searches out to see whether anyone from his clan, his ethnic group, region or religion is among those invited to the sharing table. It was that tactical error that has made some to now ask whether ‘’na only Fulani waka come?
There are some, especially from the south, who harbour the suspicion that having been ‘starved’ of power for so long, the Fulanis through Buhari, will like to regain some lost grounds by flooding the federal establishments with Hausa- Fulani men and women and that the appointments of Amina and Lawal are early signs or manifestation of that agendum. The President has obviously learnt from his error which is why I think, he released, two days ago, a batch of his appointment of security and intelligence chiefs that was widely reflective of Federal Character and has therefore been well received by Nigerians. It is unfortunate that because of the peculiarity of Nigeria and Nigerians, a sound, decent, likeable and capable woman like Amina Zakari is caught up in our web of insane competition for political power and the largesse that goes with it.
From the much I know of Amina, she is eminently qualified for the position. Her position is bolstered by the face that being an insider, it is not a job that she, or anyone else, can say she is new to or is something well beyond her capability. From what some of us can see, Jega has laid a good foundation of integrity and a fair degree of impartiality for that body. If we have an insider like Amina who also has integrity to build on Jega’s foundation, she can transform INEC into the only national institution that Nigerians can trust for fairness, impartiality and objectivity. What is more, in this era of change, we need a female INEC chairman. We have seen scores of male chairmen of that body.
The time has come for us to now see how a woman will perform in it. Sierra Leone, Niger Republic and many other African countries have had females as heads of their electoral bodies and the women all performed creditably well in that position. There is no reason to believe that Amina will not join those pantheons of electoral umpire heroines.if her appointment is confirmed by the President.