Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Nigeria, Rev. Mathew Hassan Kukah has said women and not mistresses or extra wives of big boys should benefit political participation in the country.
Kukah said this on Saturday March 5 at a book festival in Abuja, days after national assembly members voted against bills seeking to provide more opportunities for women in Nigerian politics and governance.
The Catholic Bishop stated that the beauty of democracy is to expand the frontiers of knowledge, adding that “there are some things in the African culture that are the direct antithesis of democracy.”
Kukah said: “Now the women are talking about gender. These are conversations we never had before and of course, in Nigeria and in Africa they still tell you ‘can you imagine, men are talking and women are talking’ which is that it is not acceptable that a man should be talking and a woman is talking.
“As far as I am concerned, people like myself or my small ethnic group that is marginalised even at local government level, I am asking if we are going to create a space for women, and I think we should, but we must agree on the kind of women who are going to benefit from that quota.
“Because if it is just the same big boys who are coming with their mistresses and their extra wives, it is not acceptable.
“Unless you are going to say that we create a quota for women but in creating that quota we must listen to 70, 80 percent of Nigerians who are not Igbos, who are not Hausas, who are not Fulanis, who are not those of us who have the right to be here.
“So I would suggest, yes grant the quota, but the quota cannot be benefitted… nobody who was already benefiting should benefit from that quota.”