If Women in Power Won’t Fight for Us, Who Will?
The Silence Around Natasha Akpoti's Allegations Says It All.
If you're a Nigerian living in Nigeria who follows Nigerian news, you've most likely heard of what's happening in The Senate with Senator Natasha Akpoti - Uduaghan. But for anyone that doesn't know, here is a quick recap from Zikoko.
I'm not really into politics and when I first saw that viral clip I wasn't interested. But when I started to get interested was when I saw Senator Natasha on national TV leveraging accusations against Senate President Akpabio. What really caught my attention though were the responses. The responses from other women. Some women were or are in support of and stand with Senator Natasha.
But, not all women stand with Senator Natasha. Another Senator, Ita Giwa even went as far as saying that it is a sign of weakness on a woman's part to come out and accuse a man of making passes at you.
Now out of the 108 elected Senators in the house only four are women. At least one of them has half a brain. That leaves three. As at the time of me writing this article, none of them have publicly stood with Senator Natasha. I have thought critically to myself and asked myself why. Why has none of the three remaining Senators spoken up to support their fellow woman?
Isn't that the point of being a woman in power? A woman in politics, to be able to speak up against injustice and oppression especially when it's happening to your colleagues.
But I'm not going to judge mostly because it's not easy to be a woman, then a woman in politics and then a woman in Nigerian politics, a country that hates women.
But at what point do we stop being scared of what will happen to us and just say, fuck it, and speak up. Because if our ancestors and fore mothers were silent and complicit we would not have what we have today. I don't know much about politics but surely there must have been a way to support Senator Natasha without risking their careers or their jobs?
I get it. Fear is a valid response, we all get scared. But if the women in power are too scared to speak up for their colleague, their fellow Senator, what hope do we have that they speak up for the ordinary woman? What hope do we ordinary women have with our little influence and power?
If the only way for a woman to survive in Nigerian politics is to stay quiet, meek, and align with the men in power then what even is the point.
Women fought to be allowed to stay in these political rooms. Women like Margaret Ekpo, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti and others fought so that women would be allowed in politics. It is a slap in their faces if we don't also fight to have our voices as women heard in these spaces.
The silence of the three female Senators remind us that being a woman in power doesn't automatically make you an ally to other women. It's what you do.
The Ita Giwa comment is a perfect example of how older women—women who should be paving the way—often reinforce the very systems that oppress them. When a woman says that calling out harassment is a "sign of weakness," what she’s really saying is: “We have suffered in silence, so you should too.” It’s the same logic that upholds harmful traditions—like older women telling younger women to endure abusive marriages because “That’s how we did it in our time.”
Many older women in politics got there by playing by the rules, kissing ass of men in power and taking rubbish and so instead of empathy and understanding and then paving the way-an easier way - for younger women, older women are failing younger women because society failed them. And so the cycle continues.
We don't just need women in politics. We need women who are willing to fight for their fellow women in politics. Women who are feminists and women who will be allies to other women.
I think that maybe the biggest takeaway from this entire situation is: the people who have spoken up for Senator Natasha aren’t her fellow senators. They aren’t women in government. It’s ordinary women who have nothing to gain and everything to lose. That tells you everything you need to know about Nigeria.
So, I’ll ask again: If women in power won’t fight for us, who will?
It’s so sad and that is why I agree when people say we don’t need more women in politics; we need women that have the best interests of women like themselves at heart - women that aren’t male centered.
Those are the type of people women we need in politics and until they take office, women will continue to be at a disadvantage.
This is bigger than Natasha. They are sending a message to Nigerian women, particularly those who want to be politicians, that if they speak up, they will be kicked out. It is both unfair and disgraceful.