Follow Us on Google
Whatever else has been established, or not yet established, about the person of Bola Tinubu, nobody has accused him of being unduly weak towards women. No iota of scandal has been associated with him in that realm, through the torrid years of his political life. Or even before then. For sure, if there had been any fire, in that direction, a whiff of the smoke would also have been picked up, even if it subsequently gets fully or partly doused, as on other scores.
On mounting the prime pedestal of political power in Nigeria early this year however, Tinubu, as president gave vent to some rather interesting inclinations, which he seems to have managed dexterously. It turned out that Bola Tinubu has eyes for pretty ladies. For good measures, he seems to like them, pretty and intelligent too. Interestingly, he seems to hold, with reasons too, that the eastern part of the country, is blessed with abundance of beauty and brain in the softer gender.
In forming his cabinet and picking individuals who he will obviously want to work with him, Tinubu prefers, from all indications, to look to the eastern flank for key supply of inspiration. He has not badly for himself and for the country, it can be said. Take a look. Betta Edu. The luminous medical doctor, stood out, since her introduction as national woman leader of the All Progressives Congress [APC], as often the only smiling, excited and illuminating visage in the rallies of seemingly injurious, bad and diabolical party faithful, waiting to do everybody in. Tinubu tapped the Cross River state lady as minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
Then there is Nkeiruka Onyejeocha. The pretty veteran legislator from the House of Representatives has established a positive profile of herself as an effective legislator, bold and consistent. Tinubu picked her as minister from Abia State and deployed her to Ministry of Labour as Minister of State. He then crossed over to Imo State and picked up delectable Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, another medical doctor and former banker as Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment.
Not yet done, Tinubu identified and went for Uju Kennedy Ohaneye, from Anambra, appointing her his Minister for Women Affairs. Uju, no less elegant, has a profile that is very eclectic. She is a lawyer, an entrepreneur, and a Nollywood film producer. She is more known by many however, for her philanthropy, having dedicated substantial humanitarian effort and resources over time, in support of people with disability. In the 2023 elections, she dared to run for president under the platform of APC, dropping off along the line, to endorse Tinubu.
These may not be the last the East will see Tinubu, in terms in coming to pick women of the zone to be around him. It is an interesting expression of his taste and trust for women with beauty and brain, from the eastern flank. That is the much that can be said about that.
In addition to the female ministerial team from the East, there are few other members of the Tinubu Babes or female ministers from elsewhere. Among these are Stella Okotete [Delta State], Hannatu Musawa[ Katsina],the national youth service corps member, whose appointment remains contentious, Lola Ade John [Lagos] and Iman Suleiman Ibrahim [Nasarawa].
Even as Tinubu has shown his consistent affection and preference for the ladies of the east, there is every evidence that he has been swayed by considerations beyond elegance and glamour. The ladies he has picked from the East, can, each stand her own at a beauty peagant. But beyond that, each of them can and has a proven track record in their respective fields. It may be early in the day to begin to assess what each minister or appointee has brought to the wobbling table of Nigerian federal government. The ladies have, however, shown respective determination to excel.
The performance so far, of the Tinubu babes, or indeed, their suitability for appointment into their respective portfolios, should not have arisen as a subject of focus, not at this time, had somebody within the APC not made the matter an issue.
While appearing on a national television programme last week, a former minister and chieftain of the APC, Chief Adebayo Shittu, descended on Tinubu’s female ministers as a group, pilloring them for appearing in cabinet meetings as if they were at beauty pageant. Chief Shittu admonished the ministers to be serious. He lectured that public functionaries should attend to their assignments with utmost seriousness. Although Shittu said he has no problems with Tinubu appointing a number of women as ministers, his problem, he explained, was that whenever he sees the Tinubu babes, they resemble ladies who “are going to beauty competition, based on the type of dresses they wear”. He added that “there is need for APC as a government to show more seriousness in the assignments that we have”.
The basis of Dr. Shittu’s grouse is a bit baffling. Indeed, he can either be dismissed as speaking on a lighter note, or he can be accused of trying to trivialize the otherwise serious matter of governance, more so at this critical juncture. Whatever the former Communications Minister’s dress code may be, whether for women ministers or for both sides of the gender divide, that cannot, in all seriousness, be Nigeria’s challenge at the moment. As a matter of fact, the 70-year-old chief may be accused of looking at the wrong direction. It is doubtful that what Chief Shittu sees when he looks at the pretty ministers is the same thing that Tinubu, who selected them, sees when the ministers attend Cabinet meeting. Or could they both be seeing from the same prism? That cannot be an APC thing.
The profile of the female ministers, all, as earlier highlighted, speak of solid professional and career accomplishment. Even for the young lady who is still on National Service, but who the president insisted, must be minister, the assumption is that she has a special talent that justifies such an unusual appointment.
In any case, the lady and her appointer got away with it, thanks to the prevailing complaisant spirit of monitoring agencies and groups in the country. But that was not even Chief Shittu’s grouse, rather it is the fashion choice of the female minister. If Tinubu as president, elected in his strategic wisdom to pick glowing lights from the east into his cabinet, will the appointment now entail the appointees lowering their dress standard? Or dressing down, to suit the preference of those who not admire glamour?
As with their male counterparts, the female ministers should be judged by their competence, integrity and commitment to service to the country. Unless there is a glaring case of indecent dressing, picking on female ministers for looking like beauty queens or being elegant or glamourous, is, at best, awkward.
Chief Shittu and any other person who feels that the Tinubu babes are distractive forces whenever they appear on the news, may have to learn to look elsewhere every time the ladies make a public appearance, in the course of their duty. There is no guaranty anyway, that Tinubu will not still return to the east or elsewhere, for few more beauty queens with brain to serve his government. Who knows? That may well be a strategy to lighten the mood of a country in dire strait. Chief Shittu may not even know that.
