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“You can make Nigeria great again by voting wisely”

[Title taken from the what’sapp message in image 1]

Over the past months, the women of FOMWAN Oyo State have been preparing for the elections, increasing awareness among members to register and then collect their PVC (Permanent Voters Card).

“It is our civil responsability, whether you like it or not” reminded the Oyo Chapter’s naiba (second to the amirah) a few weeks ago.

The election committee officers of Oyo State Chapter have been participating for several months in workshops and meetings held by international NGOs such as TOSATAN “peaceful conduct on Election Day & the role of Women in Election”, or other local and international agencies such as the Oyo Peace Commettee and its two day workshop “Youths, Women, and Persons with Disabilities on peace building ahead of 2023 general Election”.

January 11th, FOMWAN National obtained approval as an accredited election observer throughout the country (see INEC publication below number 53). Since then, members are invited to register as election observers for their pooling units through a google form shared on WhatsApp groups.

In Oyo State, executive committee members remind others at all meetings that a minimum of two members per local government are required as observers. All excos are expected to register as observers. On Sunday 5 February, during the General Meeting, the election committee members involved the women in an observation and reporting exercise.

When I asked a member what the role of the observers was, she replied: “The task is to report on the events happening wards during the PVC collection and at the pooling units. We make sure there is no pressuring and intimidation of the people, no bribes paid to officers or vote buying.”

Furthermore, the members are extremely active on the organisation’s WhatsApp group where they post and repost practical information related to the elections, awareness-raising messages (image 1 & 2), or standpoints from local and national Muslim groups such as the MSSN The Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (image 3) and The Muslim Umah of South-West Nigeria (image 4).

The latter is interesting as it raises the question of the intersection of regionalism, ethnicity and religion in Nigeria’s general elections. Indeed, with less than a month to go, separatists rhetorics have become increasingly audible. If such discourses preceded the election period, they have been exacerbated by a simplistic ethnic, religious and regionalist analysis of the three main candidates: Atiku, a Muslim for the north, Obi, a Christian Igbo for the south-east and Tinubu, a Muslim Yoruba for the south-west. While the first two reject the ethno-religious-regional game, the latter seems to rely on it to secure the votes of the south-west.

1. Election awareness 1 – What’s App group
2. Election awareness 2 – What’s App group
3. Repost of Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) – What’s App group
4. Re-post of Muslim Umah of South-West Nigeria – What’s App group

“This election should even come and go, and we will rest”

Extract from a conversation with one of my fieldwork sister

Election is messing with our heads, collage, January 2023, S.Okoekpen

On 25 February 2023, Nigeria will hold its seventh consecutive general election since the return of democracy in 1999. For the first time, the two political parties that have shared power for the past 24 years are threatened by a third party. Insecurity and inflation are the main issues on which the candidates are campaigning, nothing new under the blazing sun.

In the interests of brevity, but with sufficient clues for the foreign reader, here are a few words on each candidate: APC candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, is a Yoruba Muslim who helped Muhammadu Buhari to the presidency. The PDP’s candidate, Abubakar Atiku, a former vice president, is a liberal businessman from the Muslim north. The Labour Party’s candidate, Peter Obi, a former PDP candidate in the 2022 primaries, a Christian Igbo, is said to be the candidate of the urban youth and the Diaspora (who cannot vote).

From my daily encounters I observe that :

Some argue that the moment has come for a Christian presidency of the South given the unstated political pattern (Christian South / Muslim North). Others believe that having a Muslim president in the South is essential “for the survival of the Muslim community in Yorubaland” as Yoruba Muslims feel threatened by the growing influence of evangelical churches. There are those generally young and highly educated, who say they do not care about ethnic and religious background as long as their president is not APC or PDP, is young and brings them hope. In contrast, others prefer an older, experienced candidate to take the reins of a country considered complex and on the verge of collapse.

Campaign posters and rallies have come and gone…

In the street, some queue for four hours for fuel and four hours for cash while the rest of us struggle to buy the newly redesigned naira notes for 20% of their numeral value.

It is to fight against vote buying, they told us as they announced the old naira notes will not be admitted as of February 1st (a deadline they extended to February 11th due to the new note scarcity).

This morning, my neighbor tells me in anger :

“They play politics as a game in which they will never lose, while we die here”.

World Hijab Day

I will not cover my head in black because I am already black. If I wear black, I will disapear!

Iya A.

Iborun literally “something used to cover the neck” is the most common head covering I have seen among older Yoruba Muslim women during Programs (weddings, religious gatherings, naming ceremonies, burial, prayers, etc.).

© S.Okoekpen

The light polyester, sometimes see-through, the fabric is often embroidered with flowers and beads. The size of it is big enough to be wrapped around the head and breast and cascade over the shoulder.

It is usually worn over a gele, a head-tie in the same material and patterns as the gown.

© S.Okoekpen

The first time I went into the city to buy a hijab, I was overly conscious of my bare head, thinking about what the sellers would think of me. When I tried on my first hijab, sky-blue with sparkling stones, I was surprised to hear the young women who helped me adjust it:

“Ma! You look so beautiful, keep it, don’t take it off!”

And then I realised: when was the last time I heard discussions about hijab and beauty in French? Are our public spaces, media and politics so preoccupied with issues of oppression/freedom, religion/secularism, that we forget the basics of beauty practices, of fashion?

From the beginning of my fieldwork, it was clear that issues of beauty and fashion were deeply intertwined with piety in the way women (both Muslim and Christian) covered their heads. The International Hijab Day became an excuse for me to start open discussions with the women around me.

Keep posted for the work on Beauty Practices and Head Corvering we are doing with my colleague Adejoke Rafiat Adetoro