Functional democracy and options for politicians

Functional democracy and options for politicians

 

DEMOCRACY is a people-centric form of government. In a way, it is like the leadership structure in the family. All the leadership skills exhibited by both father and mother are very key to how the children pan out in life. There ought to be a complimentary type of leadership by both parents, the father and mother. While the father stands as the protector and provider, how he goes about his duties as a parent impacts on the children.

On the other hand, mothers provide a type of leadership that fathers by their nature might not be in a position to provide.  Due to the constant proximity of the mother to the children, their day to day social growth and interactions are closely monitored and directed by the mother. This is the time when children learn the values of leadership especially in cases where there are siblings. In the African setting, even when there are no siblings, the extended families are always there to fill the gap.

So from the home front, the type of parenting a child gets often determine the human they eventually become and the kind of leadership tenets they imbibe and later exhibit. The biblical book of proverbs seems to have taken this into consideration in these words, “train a child in the ways he will go and when he grows he will not depart from it”. This has proved to be valid given that most parents strive hard to instill certain core values in their children. It is from the homes that a child learns empathy, kindness,  compassion, love and all those values that ennoble .From the way a child interacts with his or her siblings, one can anticipate how he or she can deal with those they meet outside the home.

If Nigeria must sort out the socio-political issues in the country, it would be valuable to begin to re-evaluate the sociological impact of parenting. To continue to wish that miracles can happen to change certain mindsets might just be a wishful thinking that can never come to fruition. Children learn from what they see more than what they hear.

The RoundTable Conversation had a chat with Susie Aham-Okoro , a former local government Chairperson of Orsu in Imo state and a lecturer at the department of African Studies, University of Maryland Baltimore County in the United States.  According to her, her mother was the role model that inadvertently initiated her into the leadership space. She grew up seeing her mother as a leader at different levels in the community. She was leading the women both in the community and in the church at the time. She saw her as someone who was deeply rooted in the community and whose leadership skills were admired.

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So she was very active politically. She was a member of the Nigerian people’s party (NPP) at a time and moved to the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).  A very active political player, she became an inspiration to the daughter  Susie who often followed her to the political  and church engagements as a leader. She watched her mother contest for leadership positions some of which she won and some she lost.

So armed with all she had soaked in from her mother politically at the time, she ventured into student leadership through the Student Union at the University of Nigeria Nsukka.  It was a hunger to provide the kind of leadership observed from the mother at that level. She was very active in student unionism and graduated and luckily came across a late Chuba Okadigbo and worked with him for a few years. So having these two political mentors was a plus.

Becoming the Chairperson of Orsu Local Government during the military era was for Susie a grand initiation into the Nigerian political space. As a Political Science graduate, it was time to put the theories into practice. It was a gathering of a ton of experiences for her as she experienced firsthand the dynamics of politics in the Nigerian context. As the only woman to chair a local government council at the time, it was an initiation into the core of patriarchy.

Her  strength came from lessons learnt from a strong mother who never backed down. The tutelage she garnered form her mother was very instrumental to the success she recorded at the time.  She was a rebel with a course as she refused to accept the stereotypical misogynistic attitudes men in Nigerian political space exhibited claiming it was all culture. To her, the real problems with Nigerian politics is the huge  gap between theory and practice. On paper, Nigeria copied western style of democracy but failed to go by the discipline of democracy as is globally practiced.

Men in Nigerian politics fail to understand that leadership is supposed to be complimentary in ways that both genders, just like in the family  lead in different ways that ultimately lift all. There was a mischievous recourse to some cultural nuances that were purely unjustifiable in the circumstance and she stood her ground. Certain practices that were discriminatory like nocturnal meetings always fixed by the men she found very wrong. To her, there are working hours that meetings should hold and the men fixing it at night was wrong because not only is it outside work hours but it was a deliberate attempt to shortchange women.

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Nigerians to her must decide what truly works for everyone and make deliberate efforts to adopt the best tenets of democracy. Democracy does not discriminate but the best human should get the job done. Gender should never be the issue. Even though discrimination against women is still an issue, it is great to see more women getting involved in politics.  They must have the will to push further.

It is a good thing because naturally women are good leaders whose leadership skills are seen from an early age. The best individual should get the job done. More women must be encouraged to join politics as the only panacea for the problem of Nigeria. Women must take the lead because they are often more qualified than the men jostling for political leadership. We must learn to practice democracy according to the tenets. The road to progress is in doing the right things that can develop the country.

Princess Adekemi Adewunmi  is a daughter of Efon-Alaye Kingdom in Ekiti state. She grew up under a very influential father, The late Ajirogba  of Efun-Alaaye kingdom, the Otumba of Ikole Ekiti, Akaiyeijo-Otumba of Ikere Ekiti, th Baba Ijo of St.Paul’s Anglican Church , Idagba Efon-Alaaye and the first Efon-Alaaye citizen to qualify as a lawyer.

With a father with this type of pedigree, it is no surprise that Princess Adekemi took to politics pretty early in life and has continued to do various other businesses too. She has been an active politician since 1998 and has been providing leadership both as a politician and as a member of different NGOs.

It is obvious that she, like the axiomatic kid has been watching the parent chew the curd. Her father had set a template and she had taken the cue. She has been providing leadership both as a politician and as a professional in different fields. She learnt the value of leadership very early in life and has refused the odds being against her. Being passionate about humans especially women and girls stems from all she learnt from parents who were hands on and who lived by examples.

According to her, it was easy for her to walk up to the father to tell him she wanted to join politics.  He gave his blessings knowing that he had done his part in instilling the leadership values in her. She has been a very active politician and is mentoring many other young women to shake of the crushing male chauvinism that has always impeded female participation in politics.

Princess Adewunmi believes that gender parity in politics is the forerunner of development because women have the capacity, the qualifications and the sense of patriotism and equity that can change the society like Nigeria that is weighed down by poverty. Learning leadership skills under such an influential father prepared her for the roles she has been playing in politics.

She believes that parental guidance and leadership by example is all each child needs to excel and each child watches with intense attention the actions around them in ways that it can either build confidence in them or discourage them. As a female politician, she has been at the vanguard of fighting the male prejudices that discourage women from politics. A dose of confidence from such a strong parentage to her has been a blessing.

The Roundtable Conversation believes that Nigeria must go back to the fundamentals if the current situation can be corrected. Leadership is everything in development. When the roots are faulty, the tree cannot stand.  It is not enough to complain about underdevelopment and the attendant poverty. The roots of the problem might just be in the hands of the hands that rock the cradle and that is not just about the mother, it is about the two parents.

When they say that each society gets the leadership it deserves, it merely means that the product of the society cannot be magically different from the environment he or she emerges from. There must be a reawakening that brings forth a system that sees  what works for everyone in the long run. Sometimes we are all forced to wonder whether today’s political players realize that children are watching and taking notes.  These two accomplished women are evidence that parenting has everything to do with instilling discipline and leadership skills on chidren.

The dialogue continues…