…as Reps pass bill allowing married women to choose state of origin
On Tuesday May 7, 2019, Nigeria’s House of Representatives passed a bill allowing married Nigerian women to choose their state of origin. The women will have the alternative of choosing either their father’s or husband’s state of origin if passed into law.
Titled: ‘Bill for an act to amend the Federal Character Commission (Establishment, etc.) Act, 2010, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, Cap F7 to give married women the option of indigeneship and for related matters,’ married Nigerian women who had always been regarded as indigenes of their husband’s state now have a choice.
At the end of the process, Section 2, Part 11 of the principal act was amended and a new section introduced. The amended Section 2 now provides that: “A married woman shall have the option to lay claim to her State or Local Government of origin for the purpose of implementation of the Federal Character formulae at the National level or State as the case may be.”
Sponsor of the bill Edward Pwajok, SAN, representing Jos South/East Federal Constituency of Plateau State said it was worrisome that women face challenges on account of choosing state of origin in official matters particularly for the purposes of political appointment or election.
More so, Women’s Right Activist, Abiade Olawanle said the move is momentous as it paves way for many more women to take up leadership roles in local politics.
Previously, women were barred from holding political offices in their state of origin when they get married. Mrs. Abiade said she had personally missed out on opportunities in her father’s state because of marriage.
In spite of the still subsisting law, a few Nigerian women have held and still hold positions switching between their father’s or husband’s state. Supreme Court’s Hon. Justice Mary Peter Odili for instance was appointed to the Court of Appeal under Rivers State where she was former 1st Lady. But, at the time of her elevation to the Supreme Court, she elected to choose her birth state which is Imo.
Similarly, Dr. Grace Folashade Bent was in 2007 elected as senator representing Adamawa South Constituency of Adamawa State. Many saw it as novel that the Ilesa, Osun State born politician clinched the senatorial seat in Adamawa State.
There are varied views however. Lady Ngozi Okogbue, an Abuja legal practitioner spoke with Law & Society.
Hear her:
“I do not feel happy about this bill. I’m not comfortable with it at all.
“I must think that our society and its authorities including its lawmakers at times appear to act in ways that undermine the position of our women as normal and legitimate human beings!
“It might thus indeed be safe to hold the view that some people operate under an illusion that we in Nigeria still live in the Stone Age where humans lived no differently from animals, and might was right; where life was lived without decent values and without regard to the higher standards; or that perhaps we still operate under that Hobbesian state of nature where life was said to be brief, brutish, nasty and short!
“It is therefore to be imagined that by giving a married woman in today’s Nigerian society an option to elect to claim either the State of origin/Local Government Area of her father or that of her husband (and therefore, her children) in political matters, they probably think that they are performing wonders of a favour and privilege for the woman!
“On the contrary, I personally feel that such a position is patently and pathetically patronising and infra dignitatem the status of the woman, married or not, as a human being deserving, like her male counterpart, of necessary and due respect of the society of which she is unapologetically part. This is because such a line of action or even of thought would tend to reflect and remain a state of mind of not only the sponsors and framers of such an obnoxious and ill-advised piece of legislation but that of the society at large, the society which the legislators themselves are deemed to represent. I do not think that such a law would be in the best interest of the woman at all.
“Indeed I think that it should be the submission of every thinking, wise human being, the Homo sapiens aptly so-called, to accept that the human species has long moved on in the ladder of life to higher ideals and values and even to articulating a charter of rights, both fundamental and inalienable. We must thus accept that certain human attributes and qualities are by their nature completely inalienable and cannot purport to be legislated away by any fellow human. One of such human attributes is the fact of human relationships by blood. Human relationships by blood are powerful. It is sacred.
“By purporting to attempt to pass a piece of legislation that seeks to alienate women from their kith and kin, either their children, or their parents and siblings as the case may come to be, I would strongly hold the view that this penchant for thinking of and regarding our women as mere chattels or cold objects clearly without so much as feelings or emotions, is disdain for the womenfolk taken too far! One wonders whether the full implications of this singularly obnoxious legislation are lost on its proponents with respect to what they would further portend not only to the life and psychological health of the woman already suffering the social deficit, but also to that of her children and relatives on both sides going forward in the near and long term; and therefore on the rest of society willy-nilly.
“Just for daring to get married, a woman suddenly loses her voice in her father’s house as it were, or more subserviently and pathetically, in her children’s house! Unnatural as it might sound, that is what it becomes in real and practical terms. Mute! Siddon look, as it is referred to in local parlance.
“It is therefore my well considered opinion and position that we should not only tread carefully but really slowly on this matter with a view to dispensing with that proposition in its entirety in the clear and unequivocal realization and understanding that a woman is as much a human being as any other and a bona fide member of the Nigerian society, under the protection of its Constitution in all its provisions, letters and intendments.
“I think that we are at that stage of our development in Nigeria where all good hands and minds irrespective of gender and marital status must be on deck to contribute all necessary and possible, to further the fortunes of our dear nation in all appropriate directions. It would therefore be a great disservice to the nation that we continue to labour in the wrong direction. We persist in deploying mundane considerations in cutting our nose to spite our own face. We should not be seen short-changing our common system and heritage on the altar of discrimination against the women, an otherwise potent force and partner in the development process.
“Among the comity of nations, one should be hard put to imagine what such an export would signal. It is an export we as a country can ill-afford. It is common knowledge that many of our women, married or not, in other countries of the world and on the international stage are holding down high profile positions, elected or appointed and doing their utmost to hold up the Nigerian flag and to place their motherland on a high pedestal without undue encumbrance as to their origins, personal performance being the only consideration. What a ridicule would befall such women from among their peers should the Nigerian state pass such a discriminatory law based on marital status as the one under reference!
“May I therefore submit that if Nigeria is indeed our collective patrimony and if it is no crime to become married, the rights of the woman whether as a married citizen or otherwise should never then be alienated, abridged or compromised in any way or form by the instrumentality of the state or by any other.”