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“There’s a time for daring and there’s a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for.”
—Tom Schulman
By Cosmas Omegoh
Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari, dominated the media space last week with her visit to the National Assembly.
She has not been in the news for some time now. But when she again returned to the limelight on Wednesday it was with a bang.
Observers recalled that Mrs Buhari’s visit was the first ever by a First Lady to both legislative chambers for any business.
She was at the National Assembly – particularly the Senate – on February 23, to witness the laying of the report on Constitution Review by the Committee on Constitution Amendment as earlier announced by the committee’s head, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, the deputy senate president. After that, on March 1, 2022, parliamentarians from both chambers would vote on the amendment.
While at the National Assembly, Mrs Buhari canvassed support for women inclusiveness and greater gender participation in governance, particularly in legislation.
Her drive was in line with activists’ previous efforts at pushing for specific number of seats to be created and reserved for female legislators in various legislative Houses across the country
Her mission to the National Assembly was part of her modest contribution to the ongoing amendment to the 1999 constitution by the 9th Assembly.
Mrs Buhari specifically told the media: “I am here to witness the laying of a report on the amendment of 1999 Constitution which provides a bill for an act to alter the provisions for the constitution to provide special seats for women in the national and state Houses of Assembly.
“It also provides for an act for affirmative action for women in political party administration.”
On arrival, both chambers were reported to have suspended plenary to honour her presence.
The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan told his colleagues that “the First Lady’s visit is to show support for a bill for more female parliamentarians in both chambers in the Senate and the House and the state legislatures.
“This, we believe, will help in nation building as such significant participation by our women will add value to, not only legislation, but the much desired and needed national development.
“For us as a nation, our motto is Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress. We believe that all hands must be on deck to ensure the participation of each and every segment of our society.
“At the moment, you’ll all agree with me that our women have not been able to get that level of participation commensurate with their population as reflected in our demography.”
Lawan then proceeded to assure Mrs Buhari that the Senate would ensure that greater women participation would be made lawful by the time they had concluded their work.
At the House of Representatives, the Speaker, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, while welcoming Mrs Buhari spoke in like terms. “Your Excellency, that is the report of the constitutional review committee. It has three provisions that will affect women positively. I can assure you that every man here is a ‘he for she.’
“We are still in the process, and there is a lot of lobbying to be done by both Houses. By the grace of God, we will get through all of these.”
Gbajabiamila then appreciated Mrs Buhari for her visit and her previous efforts at helping the cause of the women.
Recall that last year, the National Assembly started the alteration to the 1999 constitution – the fifth time in the series.
Between May and June 2021, the law makers had organised public hearings across the country’s six geopolitical regions. The idea was to galvanise awareness, participation and input in the constitution amendment process. Many agencies institutions, bodies appeared before the committee and submitted their memoranda.
While that lasted, women and female- gender-based organisations called for greater women inclusion in government and governance.
It was at one of such gatherings that some women/groups first demanded special seats in the Senate, House of Representatives and state Houses of Assembly for the women.
The proponents of the idea were also reported to have demanded that each state and Abuja should reserve one senatorial seat for the women, and also seats in the House of Representatives and Houses of Assembly.
All together, they asked for 37 senatorial, 74 House of Representatives, and 108 state House of Assembly seats to be set aside for the women.
Others were said to have requested that words like “she/her” should be inked into the constitution since it has words like “he/him/his,” enshrined in it. Doing so, they contended, would pave way for a greater gender balance in the law books.
It is this hefty women agenda that Mrs Buhari had gone to further canvas at the National Assembly.
So far, many have been reacting to the First Lady’s interventionist agenda. The reactions are varied depending on the side of the divide the participants find themselves.
Some people have praised Mrs Buhari’s courage, describing her effort as both “heroic and historic.”
Their argument is that her intervention is sure to add greater impetus to previous efforts at politically empowering the women. Much of such previous efforts, they lament, had ended as soon as they were started.
Thereafter, nothing was neither done, nor left to remember about them again. They are upbeat that if issues as weighty as women empowerment are to be enshrined in the constitution, they will represent a clear quantum leap. It will go a long way in offering the women the louder voice they have long been craving for.
They are excited to learn that the right person – Mrs Buhari – had more properly set the agenda, and at the right time too. And that the ball is already rolling now.
From the flip side, arguments are equally springing up, reminding Mrs Buhari not to push her agenda any further as doing so might be counterproductive.
People argued that smuggling such women rights agenda into the constitution will further project the women she wants to salvage and save as truly the weaker vessels many believe they are, saying that they cannot compete with their male counterparts. Merchants of this argument advised Mrs Buhari to tread with caution, further admonishing her to press on with efforts at empowering the women educationally, economically, socially, and psychologically for them to acquire the relevant skills and be in the right frame to take on the world.
It has also emerged that the idea of reserving parliamentary seats for the women in constitution is bound to present chaos. The question being asked is “which federal and state constituencies will surrender their slots to the women by the time the matter goes into the constitution?”
Proposers of the latter argument called on the Senate and House of Representatives not to be swayed by emotions to avoid going on an overdrive. They urged the legislature to seek other charismatic and realistic ways of giving the Nigerian women the louder voice they deserve, rather than inviting chaos into the polity – just to please the First Lady – forgetting that the law will outlive her and indeed everyone else.
Mrs Buhari, 51, was born on February 17, 1971 in Adamawa State.
A cosmetologist and beauty therapist, she attended the Nigerian Defence Academy Kaduna, and Ambrose Alli University. She is married to President Muhammadu Buhari and they have five children. She has been Nigeria’s First Lady since May 29, 2015, when her husband was sworn in as president.
