The Tenacity Of A Prized Widow

Noble Lady Valerie Ebe

Culled from Insight

As the euphoria of the historic emergence of a woman for the very first time to the high office of deputy governor of Akwa Ibom state begins to wear out, fanfare in turn gives way to serious government business at the hilltop mansion.

All over the political landscape of the Nigerian state, women of late are taking over and are making their presence felt in every sphere of public life, significantly in the area of public administration and governance. The likes of Prof. Dora Akinyulli and Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, to mention but a few, remain great delights to the Nigerian woman in this age and time.

To any good student of our political history, this was not the situation in our immediate past, starting from the first republic since the declaration of independence, we have never had it this good for the women of Nigeria. Then it was hard or almost impossible to find one of the feminine gender in place of great responsibility and authority. It was an era where you find the men dotting every available political space, in fact, it was considered right and appropriate to have men of all shades and hue in every pie except a woman.

Politics and public service, had arguably been considered a preserve of the men folk in Nigeria even when around the world, women with good education and great careers, were taking charge in the various sectors of the political economy of their different nations. But strangely and without good reason, here in Nigeria, the Nigerian girl-child was still fighting for the right to go to school, not to mention a woman having an aspiration to serve her fatherland. It was that bad and sadly, it had moral connotations that blackmailed the virtue of the African woman who dared to fulfil her full potentials in life. And so the generality of our mothers were browbeaten to see the home as their natural turf and only area of competence without question.

In a society as ours, this was why legends like the late Margaret Ekpo were seen as deviants for their exceptional courage to stand up for the emancipation of the Nigerian woman. They had dared where even angels were afraid to tread and they had to be punished. These iconoclasts were harassed and intimidated at every turn, and even the few who came through, would still have stories that move even the hardest of minds to tears. After crossing over to the other side of the divide, for the very few who made it at the end of the day, it was still an issue of great courage and tenacity to stay afloat in the midst of the unwelcoming men folk, who continued to hurl insults and cast aspersions on their integrity, in order to stop these women of great visionary strength in their tracks.

In truth, nothing was left out in the arsenal against the women, that so many who had started out well fell by the wayside and never returned to political reckoning. A woman leader and political sensation of the short-lived Chief Donald Dick Etiebet administration, late Iquo Ibanga, who was fondly called Adiaha Ukpudia Ukanafun by friends and admirers, saw these victimisation first hand as her political career soared. In sharing her experiences with new comers in politics, she had always warned of discrimination against women as the bane of our society, a cause she fought in private capacity till her death.

And so it was a big moment in this clime, when Hon. Rebecca Ekpo, who recently passed on was elected into the Cross River State House of Assembly, as a member representing the good people of Abak State constituency in the second republic. Such feats were rare and herculean then, as it was metaphorically easier for a bull to pass through the eye of a needle than for a woman to stand in the polls or ascend to any meaningful political relevance. And even with the few staggered successes here and there, the situation was still without much hope for the future of the Nigerian woman.

After the coming of the numerous military regimes and the return to partisan politics, the women still did not fare better. It was still a far cry from ascending the heights of political power for the Nigerian woman, even as they constituted the bulk walk of real politicking during campaigns and elections in the country. They were only courted by the chauvinistic men in politics for numerical strengths and effects, and this was where it always ended.

In 1991 in particular, after the then military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, lifted the ban on political activities, all twenty one (21) governors elected on both the platform of the National Republican Convention(NRC) and the Social Democratic Party(SDP) were all men and down to their deputies, the story remained the same except for a variant in the politics of Cross River state, where a woman was picked as a running mate by the NRC in the state and who consequently became the first female deputy governor as the party won the state.

And several years after, this feat could not be replicated next door in nearby Akwa Ibom state, where one male deputy took over from the other, not for want of credible feminine hands but for lack of such political culture. Here in Akwa Ibom state, it could take a life time for the contributions of a woman in the politics of the state to be recognized and acknowledged, and this fact became a very serious concern for those who had paid their dues in bringing in the present administration to office, fearing that they may go the way of their predecessors in office.

The few women in the past who rose in public service to become heads of various Parastatal, departments and ministries were next only to nothing, as it was considered the height and ceiling for attainment for the woman.

And so when the unexpected happened and a woman for the very first time in the history of the state was called up and handed the duties and office of state deputy governor, it was akin to a political miracle in the promised land. The women could not hold their joy as they could not have asked for anything better. And thanks to the exceptional leadership of the quintessential Godswill Akpabio, governor of the state.

Lady (Barr.) Valerie Ebe, after her short stay as a member of the cabinet of the Chief Godswill Akpabio administration, had returned to the political field to walk the nooks and crannies of the state to coordinate the activities of the women of the state under her pet project, AKIWOL-Akwa Ibom Women League, to ensure the return of her boss to office in 2011 for the umpteenth time. She worked tirelessly with other leading lights to build a formidable platform for the women in the state.

The widow of late Sir Maurice Ebe, showed unusual strength in balancing her acts as a mother and a politician in the last years as she weathered the storms of time, which she has had her fair share, to be where she is today. She has shown zeal and have remained undaunted in her quest to see the Akwa Ibom woman stand in her rightful place in the scheme of things, bracing the odds of betrayal, marginalisation, envy and hatred that is commonplace with politics to stand shoulder high above every evil imagination to crown the Akwa Ibom woman with honour and dignity. It is our prayer out here, that this woman of great history and unprecedented legacy would finish well as she trod along the journey that is ahead of her.