When in the run-up to the March 28 presidential election which produced President Muhammad Buhari, Professor Oluremi Sonaiya, the only woman to stand in a political landscape littered with men, stood for election people thought she was the pun in the whole political process. Even the womenfolk laughed it off. The popular belief then was that she was ‘looking for something’ and not that she stands any real chance.
We know that it is still a tough turf for women in Politics in Nigeria, as far as bidding for the highest position in the country is concerned.
On her column in this newspaper on March 29, a day after the presidential election, Sonaiya said: “Over the years the rich and powerful have been consistently pushing the rest of us to the periphery, and far too many citizens of this nation have ended up falling off the edge. Politics has become a family business, with men ensuring their continued influence within that arena by ‘donating’ their wives and children to the cause. We have equally heard it over and over again: more than 80 per cent of our resources are employed at the service of less than 20 per cent of our population. That cannot be just, by any standard.”
It is this mindset that is propelling Helen Mukoro, a Nigerian-born Spaniard, to vie for one of the highest offices in Spain. According to Helen, changing the paradigm is very important. The society’s paradigm of women, especially foreigners aspiring for one of the highest offices in a foreign country is one that needs to change.
“What motivated me to run for the seat of Mayor of Denia is the present situation in Spain. It is even enough to make a dead man to wake up and say, “I am back to my feet again.” The politicians that have ruled in the past eight and 10 years did more harm than good. There was corruption, and a lot of things went wrong. People could not afford basic needs, not that the country is poor, but because money is being taken away. Spain is no longer the super country that used to be everybody’s dream. I felt that Spain has to come back to be what it used to be; Spain has to stand on its feet, Spain is not a lazy country, and Spain is not a doomed country”, Helen said in an interview.
The fruit does not fall far from the tree. Back home in Nigeria, the new mantra is about fighting the hydra-headed monster called corruption. Helen hopes to replicate this as Mayor in Spain.
But despite the wide acceptance, she faces an uphill task. No black woman has ever emerged a Mayor in Spain in the past. And her political party, which she also formed is relatively new, having been formed in 2014.
Helen is optimistic. “The Spaniards know about us. The media has given us a very good coverage. The power of the media, that’s where the campaign is. Because it’s an advanced country, they like information, they love to buy newspapers before they buy bread because they want to know what is happening. We have been on the news, everywhere I go on the street, I hear Mayor, Mayor, and the tide is high”.
And fighting the cause of Blacks, Nigerians and Africans is also a burning passion for Helen who said the first African migrants to arrive Europe had a reputation problem. “I have begun to notice that Africans, and Nigerians coming into Spain lately are different from the first group of people that came to Europe earlier. The Nigerians that migrated first to Italy and Europe spoiled their names everywhere. There is a different group of people coming in now, those that have education, a lot of them starting churches etc. When the people see these things, gradually, it makes their mentality and concept to change as they begin to see that they are organised towards positive things”, She said.
But more than give Africans a voice and a platform, Helen wants Nigeria’s name to resonate and she wants the perceptions problem that Nigeria has had abroad over the years to change. “They can say that Nigeria is the first country to produce a black leader in Spain. That will be pride to Nigeria and Africa. If we get there, Nigeria and Africans in Spain will begin to be respected in a different dimension”.
