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When Bolanle Aliyu decided to run for governorship of Oyo State in southwestern Nigeria, even her husband was initially reluctant to support her.
Aliyu knew it would be difficult once she would have entered the noisy and sometimes violent world of Nigerian politics. She will need to find a way to fund her campaign and deal with corrupt party officials who demand bribes for everything from application forms to meetings to the fact that her rallies are not sabotaged. What complicates things even more is that she is a woman.
"I had to beg my husband to let me participate," said Aliyu, 39, who attended a social worker training and runs a catering and events company. "The politics we all came to know is a dirty game."
Aliyu's lack of support is typical of women coming to Nigeria, where the February 16 presidential and legislative elections will take place. The most populous democracy in Africa contains the lowest proportion of women in power on the continent, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union group that counts representation. Women occupy only 6% of the seats in Parliament, compared to 23% in the United States, which places it at 181 out of 188 countries for which the Geneva-based group has data.
Patriarchal society
And that should not change anytime soon as the two main candidates in the presidential election are not progressive in terms of gender. President Muhammadu Buhari, a 76-year-old Muslim man in search of a second term, sparked controversy in 2016 when, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, answered a question about his wife's political views. saying, "It belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room. & # 39; & # 39;
His main opponent, Atiku Abubakar, 72, is a wealthy businessman with four women and more than 20 children. Although he mentioned that women should be better represented in government and business, his political agenda does not clearly indicate whether things would change under his watch.
"Nigeria is still strictly a patriarchal society and most of the time we see people speaking up to promote women's participation in politics," said Mufuliat Fijabi, head of the Nigerian Women's Trust Fund, a group of advocacy in Abuja.
Nigeria has never had a woman president or vice president and no governor of her 36 states has ever been a woman. The most prominent political woman to date is Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was minister of economic coordination between 2011 and 2015, a role often compared to that of prime minister. Of the 70 or so presidential candidates in this year's election, six were women. The best-known among them, former World Bank vice president, Oby Ezekwesili, left the race last month after a quarrel with his party.
They do not encourage us, "said Zainab Sulaiman, 26, who is trying to win a seat in the parliament of the northern city of Kano. "They do not give the same chances as they do to men."
Sulaiman is a candidate for a smaller party after failing twice at the All Progressive Congress primaries. Like many other candidates, she thinks that a quota giving women a number of seats in state or federal parliaments should be anchored in law. This is already the case in Rwanda, which set a quota of 30% of women in election positions in 2003 and now has the highest proportion of women in power in the world.
Generalized polygyny
Nigerians have made progress in the fields of business and the arts. The richest woman in the country, Folorunso Alakija, is a billionaire whose company obtained oil exploration permits in the 1990s. Ibukun Awosika, president of the First Bank of Nigeria, occupies an equally important place, while writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has gained worldwide fame with her novels and speeches on feminism.
But politics remains a male dominated field in a country where polygamy is widespread and where women often have to look after children and the household. This is a view shared by voters such as David Bbadey, a 34-year-old security guard from the commercial capital, Lagos.
"I do not like women doing politics," said Bbadey. "God has created men so that they are at the head and men know best. Even my mother, I would not support her to sit in the government. "
Christina Ude, a 42-year-old former accountant and teacher who is running for a seat in the House of Representatives, says the lack of funds is another hurdle. Political parties can charge candidates who wish to run on their platform tens of thousands of dollars for nomination forms only. Expenses often include paying people to attend gatherings.
'Man Thing'
"When I talk to people, what I say does not always interest them," said Ude. "They are more interested in the little money I have to give them."
Ude remains optimistic that even without a quota, Nigerians will eventually vote for women in power, because if men are at the helm, little has changed. But it will be a difficult battle.
"Women are not able to govern," said Yemi Olatunji, who works as a manager in Lagos. "Nigeria is a tough country and a woman can not run this country."
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