The change we desire presented an opportunity we failed to seize. The gender is stigmatized for certain reasons, some say we live in a patriarchal society, therefore it cannot lead. While others conclude, it is the weaker vessel. I often ask if the weaker vessel connotes inferiority complex, failure, incompetence, and imperfection. We read the account of a biblical character named Deborah who did valiantly well in discharging the duty of leadership even with the subordination of the supposed or acclaimed superior gender. One may think, but Deborah is merely a biblical character. Well, there is an ‘Iron Lady’, Margaret Thatcher, a British stateswoman; the first woman to serve as Prime Minister.
As the UK has her Thatcher, there is Natasha in Nigeria who is highly concentrated on salvaging the country from imminent collapse, and fast-tracking Nigeria towards the direction that restores. With no strings attached to the character Ive never met but admire from a distance, the Ihima born lady is an impeccable figure whose antecedent has proven to be a ‘beacon of hope’. Now, this looks like what Nigeria has always anticipated in many political agendas that had been sold to them, but from every indication, the masses of Nigeria still fail the systematic process that is capable of unleashing an abrupt end on the gun powered system of government that dominate our political realm.
The Natasha you might not know
Natasha Hadiza Akpoti is a mother not only to her biological children, but also to many young Nigerians who believe in her message of hope. She is a role model to many others who share her vision and hope to be like the workaholic, yet lively woman. She is a mother Theresa to numerous people that have benefitted from her humanitarian schemes. She is a source of strength to many patriotic Nigerians who were beginning to lose the sight of better days for Nigeria. She is a voice to countless voiceless Nigerians who have been denied their rights. She is a Judas and threat to a bunch of political, economic, and societal bigwigs that find interest in retrogressing the nation. She is an ant beneath the feet of gross injustice which parades the system of this part of the globe. Yet, she is unbreakable, a quality that is innate to the Ebiras.
Natasha might have been known to many Nigerians before now, as for me, she was a total stranger until her 1st March, 2018 presentation during the sectoral debate on the revival of Ajaokuta Steel Company organized by the then Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, RT Honorable Yakubu Dogara. I missed the program, but my father, who saw it live aroused my curiosity by his incessant reference to the exceptionally delivered presentation. YouTube became my haven. Have you seen the woman who exposed the dangerous economic, and political battle which has downplayed the steel company Nigeria has so much invested in through her investigative report? That is the same project Chinua Achebe refers to as the White Elephant Project in his book titled, There was a Country; A Personal Story of Biafra. If you see the logical presentation, you should question what our society prioritizes over intelligence; gender. Aside from the fact that her name became a frequent visitor to my hearing as a student in Kogi State University, that was how I knew about Natasha.
As a factfinder, Natasha combatted the harum-scarum and nefarious activities at the steel company with fact and data. One would not have expected less from an excellently trained lawyer.
The conspiracy that has held Nigeria to ransom is yet to be checked by most Nigerians, and is not too far from the fact that we do not see reasons to examine what we have collectively valued so much in the past and we still hold in high esteem at the moment. The pedestal eventuality that has beclouded the country’s sociopolitical and economic atmosphere therefore pegging our definition for good governance at construction of road, pipe borne water, job creation and other ridiculous achievements since the 60s has to be checked. The leadership of the country has kept us in perpetual darkness, that we do not know whether to provide room for young, intelligent, innovative, and progressive minds or recycle the old jalopies. The same set of people have been parading the stage since independence, yet, they rebrand, and we patronize. The same class has frustrated the efforts of foreign countries, such as Russia, to help develop the Nigerian Steel Industry.
The underdevelopmet that characterises Ajaokuta today is not of economic concern but a deliberate effort to underdevelop Nigeria, and this is masterminded by the supposed leaders. The presentation, which left a candid and workable recommendation on the plenary of the House of Representatives, did not receive a significant upturn until a relevant force was applied through a consistent advocacy by well-meaning Nigerians, a group to which Natasha belongs. There was a massive Revive Ajaokuta/Itakpe Campaign in January, 2017. That was over a year interval to the jaw-breaking Ajaokuta/Itakpe Conspiracy presentation. The government of Nigeria did not see the possibility of rekindling the steel company; to them, Ajaokuta is not worth ‘maybe’ a kobo. But the fire squad formed by concerned citizens dragged the country into a deal that earned the country $1.45 billion (#600 billion). The process of the milestone achievement such as the October 24, 2019 concession in Russia is not of much significance here. Also, March 13th meeting at the Afri Exims Bank Headquarters in Egypt eventually restored Ajaokuta to Tyaz Prom Export, its original builder. I am, therefore, saddled with the responsibility to ask, when do we begin to look towards the direction of independent and dynamic Nigerians for political offices? What have we done with the industrially revolutionalized minds that have been advertised to us. If they could push hard while they remain within the ordinary Nigerians, they would do more when we eventually hand them the baton.
Natasha Akpoti’s goodwill has also been established via her consistent act of giving back to the society. The economic backbone of every serious country are SMEs, and this every government must recognize with sincerity and willingness to take maximum responsibility. This is the fact Natasha identified with when she introduced her Five Thousand Women and Youth Initiative, a programmme that has given as much as #100,000 to individuals for startups under the auspices of Natasha Akpoti Impact Investment Ltd. This is an operation you may not see everywhere on social media because it is not an image-buying programme. It is no gainsaying to make claim that one of the thousand ways Nigerian politicians have used to buy accession is to hide under the flag of philanthropy and more often than not, it is too late before we perceive their fishy hands. However, this does not impugn the case of people with candid intentions. I came across some of the forms filled by beneficiaries, only to discover names, such as Opaluwa and Edogbo. Then, I realized that this is not an Ebira-in-focus agenda. It is therefore important that we collectively work this kind of people to our offices, those who will not divide us along ethnic and religious lines. Religious and ethnic coloration has long been used as instrument of separation, but the demands of this age require our oneness, if we must progress as a people and as a nation. The massive palliative support given to the people of Kogi at the heat of the ravaging monstrous virus; Covid 19, is also a giant stride that must be acknowledged. The government received a donation of ventilators, too.
The Bruises
Power and politics seem to have exclusively reserved definitions in Africa. Their modus operandi seems to be different from what is practised in the other parts of the world, too. You will not go too far before you validate my claim. Steven Michael Lukes, a British political and social theorist argues that “It seems that there are several, even many concepts of power. But when and how are we to distinguish these concepts one from another? And in the case of a dispute about where power lies or about its extent or effects, how can we tell whether the disputants are disagreeing about the facts, applying different concepts or engaging in a contest over the same concept? And does it matter? In what follows I shall maintain that it does matter.” There is but one summation to the worries of Lukes and it holds that, there is, indeed, a single, comprehensive, extremely general or generic concept of power common to all cases, and that, in application to human agent (individual and collective), it exhibits two distinct variants (which we can provisionally, but misleadingly, label as the concepts of power to and power over), where the latter is a subspecies of the former, and that alternative ways of conceiving a version of the latter exhibit what has been called essential contentedness, with significant consequences for our understanding of social life. If you fathom the complexity of this, you will have a pang of Natasha’s ordeal.
One of those ways in which power played around Natasha was on the incidence of her mayhem when she was unlawfully disqualified as a candidate to participate in the 2019 gubernatorial poll in Kogi State. That wasn’t the first. There was the hideous power-play by the ‘powerful’ class during the senatorial election in the state, too. Though Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was later ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction to reinstate her candidacy, time had already worked against her chances. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) Secretariat was set on inferno in Lokoja with the intention to wound her chances. The assault at the Peace Accord meeting which was organized by INEC in the state’s capital was reported to have happened under the watch of police personnel. The Inspector General of Police and INEC Chairman were there present too. That is power in Nigeria. There was also an execution of pen on ballot paper in Kogi State. This must have been carefully stage-managed by the ‘powerful’. It will baffle one to know that an independent body would stoop so low to participate in such a dangerous game. Play around, you’ll see the use of power. As I pen my thoughts, I am equally waiting for the ‘powerful’ to send their usual agent to collar me. If it happens, tell my mother I am paying a price for the restoration of justice and good governance in my country.
The simple trick that the political elite in Nigeria understand is that, power is everywhere. The masses give them power to dominate. They also understand that the masses do not know that absolute power resides with them. The same power that is used as an instrument of oppression by the elite can be used as an instrument of resistance by the masses. Conceiving power as a strategy and not as a possession translates into perceiving it as something that has to be exerted and not something that can simply be acquired. It is not tocally exclusive in certain institutions or individuals, but it is rather a set relation dispersed through society. Nigerians have to wake to the reality of power that resides with them, and that with its full utilization, they decide who and how to use it. Power is a system, a network of relations encompassing the whole society, rather than a relation between the oppressed and the oppressor. Individuals are not just the objects of power, but they are the locus where the power and the resistance to it are exerted. Human beings are the vehicles of power, it is therefore imperative that we channel it properly for the benefit of our society. There is an urgent need for the masses to transfer power from old fellows to young vibrant Nigerians whose antecedents have proven they are of no questionable character and are willing to transform the country to what we have always anticipated.
Looking through the Future
It is a usual practice among politicians to disappear after losing elections. You would understand that after many politicians lose their chances at the poll, only the approaching of subsequent election has power to bring them back to the public expanse. Natasha Akpoti has remained connected and accessible even to the most common Nigerian you can think of. One way you can think of her is her one-to-one intellectual engagement with people almost on a daily basis. Leaders who understand the importance of communication and role of youths to be integral parts of a progress-focused nation are worth our political seats. Thousands of youths participate in a learn and win programme she runs on social media, and this programme has shown how many intellectually developed youths Nigeria has but wasting away. There is a reward that fits every participant’s effort. To Natasha, it does not matter whether she wins or not, humanity is the watchword.
At this crucial point in time when our beloved country yearns for good governance, it has therefore become mandatory that we check our electoral process. It is relevant that we reconsider the values we look out and exercise reevaluation. It is high time we realized that people who feed their stomachs to the detriment of the future would have their heads covered by the debris of their future. There is pressing for us to abolish the system of grafting which has for long robbed us. Remember, when you sell your vote for an exchange, you have not only shut the progress of the nation for four years, but the effects will linger for ages and history will be told that it is the people of this age that wreaked the havoc.
In conclusion, as we celebrate Democracy Day, remember the words of Desmond Tutu “do your little good where you are; it is those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” Always do that which is right and be truthful to yourself. Fellow Nigerians, “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” – Nelson Mandela. It always seems impossible until it is achieved. There are passionate Nigerians who can help us arrive where we have always admired. They are in your neighborhood, office, and places of worship. Natasha Akpoti is one of them. I am one of them. You might be one, too. Redefine your priorities and Nigeria will fly high.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In solidarity for;
Barrister Natasha H Akpoti
Kogi SDP Gubernatorial Candidate
Oladipupo Yinka
Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.