In this interview, Hon. Omotayo Oduntan, representing Alimosho Constituency 2 in the Lagos State House of Assembly who is also the new Deputy Whip of the House, speaks on how to succeed as a female politician using her case as reference.
Excerpts:
We will like to know how your journey into politics started because many people believe politics is for men
I actually developed interest in politics, when I was in Kano and I was living close to the house of the late Malam Aminu Kano.
Each time I was going out, I would have to pass through his house and I discovered that the place was always filled up with people. I was always wondering what people were doing there until someone told me that they were going there for political meetings.
That was what prompted me into politics as I said that I wanted to be like this man. I started from there by attending their meetings, but not long after that, I got married and I had to move down to the south.
I was nursing a baby then and I was staying with my mother in Ekiti State, but the only party in the state then was the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
My uncle, Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd.), was one of the leaders of the party then. Almost everybody there was in the NPN and I found out that I was the only one in the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), and this was causing a lot of problems.
So I had to change to the NPN. I was in the party briefly, but their ideology was quite different from my own belief. So, when I got back to Lagos, I went back to the UPN, until the military took over power in 1983.
Later, democracy began again around 1991 and I contested for a seat in the Lagos State House of Assembly under the then Social Democratic Party (SDP) during the era of Gen. Ibrahim Babdmosi Babangida (IBB) and then, we had the Ase and the Primrose Groups.
I was in Ase and the leaders said that I had to step down for Hon. Adejoke Orelope Adefulire, the immediate past Deputy Governor of Lagos State, who subsequently won an election into the House from my constituency.
From there, I became the Vice Chairman of the party in Alimosho Local Government area until the military sent us back home again and took over power.
Later, the then five parties came on board and I came out to contest for the vice chairman of the party again, I was in the Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM) and majority of our people went for the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP).
I believe that UNCP was an offshoot of the NPN. I contested under the GDM and we all went back home again before politics returned in 1998 and I joined the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
I contested and won an election into the House of Assembly in 1999. At the end of my four-year tenure in 2003, we had some issues in the party in my local government then and they said that another person should take over from there until they asked me to go to the Assembly again in 2011.
The 7th Lagos State House of Assembly had seven female members, while the current 8thAssembly has four members. What do you think is the problem as the number of female members keeps dropping?
It is actually fluctuating, when I was in the House in 1999, we were three females, after we left, it reduced to one, later another one joined, and then the next Assembly had three female members.
We were seven in number in the 7th Assembly. Now, we are four women in the 8th Assembly. The women in political offices, either by appointment or election, have to lay good examples for other women and we have to continue to educate other women.
You don’t just come out at once and when you fail, you run back. Anytime I contest election and I lose, the following day, I would be on the road and some people just looked at me and labelled me.
I told them that they didn’t bring me into politics and so they cannot send me out of politics. As a woman politician, you have to believe in yourself and have the determination that no matter what, I would not run back.
If the men see this in you, they would appreciate you and support you. But if at the initial stage, they attack you like that and you shy away, they would not reckon with you again.
What have been the challenges you have faced in politics as a woman? People talk about sexual harassment and your home is also there. How was it at the initial stage?
I wouldn’t want to see myself as a female politician, I am a politician. I don’t want us to bring gender into politics, I am an individual, whatever a man can do, I should be able to do it.
I don’t bring the issue of gender into whatever I do. I have never experienced sexual harassment and all that since I joined politics. Also, I always tell people that it is only when election is around the corner that we hold meetings regularly; people believe that we hold elections till late in the night, I have never experienced that.
When elections are coming, all you need do is to plan and you have to seek the support of your husband and that of your children in all that you do.
Some people believe that women in positions of authority are somehow difficult and have ego problem. How true is this?
I don’t. Of course we have bad eggs amongst us and you have them in all spheres of life, but you cannot afford to have ego in politics because, when you want to campaign and go to the market women, you have to bring yourself to their level.
You should be able to adapt to whatever area you find yourself, if it is up there, you should bring yourself to their level and if it is down there, you should do the same.
At the time we were going into various markets with the NGO of the late Professor Jadesola Akande to enlist the support of market women, we were everywhere. Those of us in political offices should act as mentors to the ones coming up.
Some men believe that women are better administrators, where a man does not lord himself over his wife, they would say she is oppressing him. But, you don’t look at those things; you look at your happiness.
Once you are happy and your husband is going out in the morning, just pray for him and he would be happy.
Would you advise a nursing mother to join politics?
Why not? Once you have a political outing, just strap your baby at the back and off you go. Even as a woman, you go out to work and you would not say because you are a nursing mother you would not work, it is the same thing.
Nothing should stop a woman from joining politics; it should not be left for men alone. I remember when I lost a son and people were just coming to my house to greet me because I did not go out after then, they would come to mourn with me and I would still feed them.
I just decided one day that enough was enough and I started going out. So, this is the issue, you should not allow yourself to be discouraged, we cannot just leave politics for men, women have to participate.
It is obvious that more women participate in politics than men and yet women would rather vote for men than for women during elections. What do you think is the cause?
Yes, they would not vote for women because men have bought them with money. It is about our society because men have all it takes to woo voters to their sides and because of that you see a lot of women voting for men during elections.
What about the issue of violence because we know that Alimosho Local Government was very tough during the last general elections and people believe that politicians are fetish. Do you agree with them?
I don’t believe that politicians are fetish; I have never been fetish because of politics. Also, when you talk of violence, I am not afraid at all.
I remember people were calling me a witch with the way I came out for the campaign during the last general elections. I was not afraid at all and I was everywhere.
They would say: ‘that woman does not even bother.’ I am used to it, I love being a politician, I am enjoying it and I would encourage more women to come out and be part of the process because we have to be part of the development of our society.She concluded the interview by stating that she would contest for the position of the Governor of Lagos State in 2019 but explained that it requires a lot of money but she doesn’t have that kind of money right now.
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