‘Women are being denied rights because of injustice’

In spite of all the clamour and talk, women still performed woefully in the 2015 general election, what is the way out of the situation?My heart bleeds with the performance of women but I am not blaming any woman that lost election. It was a gross gang up against womanhood. PDP was a large party […]

In spite of all the clamour and talk, women still performed woefully in the 2015 general election, what is the way out of the situation?
My heart bleeds with the performance of women but I am not blaming any woman that lost election. It was a gross gang up against womanhood. PDP was a large party and most of the female politicians were there but it was injustice that caused the down fall of the party. It was the same injustice that denied women their rights. It was money politics.
 The few women that managed to emerge and make it was just the grace of God. Sen. Aisha Alhassan did very well, but they ganged up against her and used all kinds of false allegations against her. They brought in religion, like they did to me in 2011. I was blackmailed that I loved the Muslims too much, that if I am made governor, I will sell Plateau State to the Muslims. I am a Christian and I am proud to be a Catholic. But again, I don’t treat people based on religion. The religion I know is love. If you have love in your heart, then you are a true Christian. For anybody to use religion to blackmail or work against the other is wrong.
I pray that we will stop using religious politics. So the last elections was money based politics and God wanted to humble those who played him. When you think you have money and can do anything, God will humble you. We didn’t have money in APC to compete with PDP, but God used that to humble PDP.
With the way women are treated during elections, do you think Nigeria can ever produce a female president?
Is anything impossible with God? Did anybody believe that Jonathan will not come back? When the time comes just like it came now and Buhari won the presidency, nothing will stop it. We must know that God gives power and He too can unseat anyone. Even the Plateau senatorial seat, we won it but Jang upturned it. We are now in tribunal. By the grace of God, Eunice Ayisa  Sambo will get her seat back. 
Were you surprised when it was announced that Buhari was leading in the presidential elections
I wasn’t surprised, I was sure that Buhari would win and that was why I moved to APC. I received Buhari in January in Jos and I was happy with the response of our people when I moved to APC. My slogan in 2011 was ‘change.’ So it was like a prophecy and God saw that, from the bottom of my heart, I was crying for change and so he answered by giving my nephew the seat.
What are your tips to women on juggling politics and career?
Women must first be mothers. The home should come first. Whatever we do at the home front reflects on the society and the nation. Women must be good mothers and respect and honour their husbands. The success story of my political career is because I got the full support of my husband.
 Your  take on girl-child education?
I was the first woman to set up a model nursery and primary school outside Jos city. I set it up in 1982 and today  I am a proud mother and proprietress who has given birth to so many doctors, lawyers, engineers, successful business women, and reverend to mention a few. And all this gives me fulfillment. 
My first daughter who is a lawyer was amongst the second set  of the school. Human development is the greatest development.
Girl-child education is the only thing that can deliver this country. Women are more than 55 percent the population of Nigeria, so ignoring that percentage means ignoring the larger chunk and there can never be meaningful development if women are ignored.
An educated mother will attend, support and raise her children well. She can assist them with their homework , and also ensure that her children go to school. An educated mother will support and make up for her husband where he fails in the training of their children.
 Educating a male-child is educating him alone but educating a girl-child has a multiplier effect as she will help the family and others; educate all her children and her knowledge will also impact on them.
The way forward for Nigeria is to give emphasis on girl-child education. When you have an educated mother, you have an educated home.  Most ills in the society is because values in the home have been neglected. I give kudos to women who on discovering that the stress of their job is too much resign to take care of their children and their home. Because you can’t sacrifice the future of five or six children because you want to work. Because  among them could be the future head of state, or minister among others.
Towards the end of your tenure as deputy governor there was crises between you and Governor Jonah Jang what exactly happened?
Before I got into office I used to think Jang was a fair and just man.Little did I know that he has his personal agenda which was for himself, his family and his cronies and not for the people of Plateau State.
As I speak to you, I have close friends from Du , Jang’s village and Beroms who don’t want to hear his name. I so believed in him that as a serving minister under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government I stood before my president then General Olusegun Obasanjo to say I was supporting Jang who was in All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) then instead of my own party.
It got to the point where the president asked, “All the elders in Plateau are not supporting Jang except you, what about you? Don’t you want to be governor?’ I said no, I believe in fairness and justice. In my zone, Solomon Lar was the first civilian governor after which Tapgun came, so my zone and the central zone which Dariye came from has had their chance, but the northern zone has not so I felt we should  give them a chance so they can have a sense of fairness.
So I pleaded that in the spirit of fairness and justice, let’s give Jang since he is from the northern zone and because I believed in him more than any other person from the zone.
You know Plateau has so many tribes. We have about 50 tribes. How can Jang then face only one tribe- the Berom? How can Jang feel that nothing good should go to any other tribe except his?
He started the injustice a year after we got into office. Immediately we were sworn in, I called him to remind him of our campaign promises, I once said we should bring the videos of our campaign promises and go through so that we will not lose focus, but he didn’t listen.
Do you have any regrets serving in that government?
Sure I have. The regret is that Jang did not listen to me for us to fulfill the promises we had for the people. As a deputy I did my best to advise him but he refused to listen. I did not resign because he did not appoint me. It was a joint mandate and I knew my rights.
Jang forgot how I stood by him and even had my job on the line as a PDP minister to support him. But God never forgets and sees the heart. I don’t believe in pretext.
You lost the election when you contested as governor?
I did not lose that elections, if everything was free and fair, I would have been sworn in. The records are clear. I won the elections and they upturned it.
Plateau used to be a stronghold of PDP why did it lose to the APC in the recent gubernatorial election?
It was God and I believe in retributive justice. Jang played God and PDP as a whole played God. It was on the basis of fairness that Jang was given the ticket. I went on my knees to beg Obasanjo that the northern zone has not had a chance in governing the state, and both southern and central zones had a chance , because we want fairness and peace.
 It was on the basis of zoning that Jang became governor . So why after eight years of ruling should he refuse to allow someone from the Southern zone to become a governor. They said I was bad, and ambitious and all kinds of names and I left after four years. And Jang picked another deputy governor from my zone even though not from my local government.
Everyone knows the man, he is quiet , humble and has other credentials. So why didn’t he sponsor the deputy governor to contest, he refused to give him the seat and instead brought his nephew to be governor but God frustrated his plans. We prayed and thank God today I have given birth to my nephew as governor and that is Lalong who has been sworn in as governor of the state.
Good governance is what will unite Nigeria. When a leader governs with the fear of God and gives appointment based on merit not because he is from your place or religion. What is lacking in Nigeria is love, if there is love there wouldn’t be corruption, and everybody will govern with fear of God and everybody will do the right thing at the time. We also need to harness the resources God has blessed us with. It was the money from the tin mines in Jos, groundnut pyramids in Kano and Cocoa from the South-West that was used to develop the oil in the Niger Delta but they have forgotten and are now crying they own the oil.