Political Participation & Leadership
Source: Vanguard
Dr. Ada Chenge is a renowned politician in Benue State and presently, the only female gubernatorial aspirant in the contest for the 2015 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP gubernatorial ticket.
Mrs. Chenge who contested and lost the 2011 primaries of the PDP, is the first female mechanical engineer from the state, the first female managing director of Lower Benue River Basin Development Authority, in this interview speaks on how she would become the first female governor of Benue State. Excerpts:
Do you see yourself standing a chance in a male dominated world like ours in Nigeria?
I will answer this question with a question; is it also very easy for a fellow man to hand over power to another man? Power is not handed over to person, if the people you are leading accept you as their leader, whether a male or female, you take it.
Even the male folk as well don't get power easily. It is always a contest. It is not strange. And once in a contest, the people decides who becomes their leader and they look out for quality.
For me, it is not strange because I'm the first female Mechanical Engineer of Benue state origin. Mechanical Engineering is purely a male dominated world but I made that record.
I was a student of the commercial pilot school in Zaria as far back as 1998.
I have been in the male dominated world all my life, so I don't think sex is an issue in terms of leadership. I believe that if you are able to make your mark, both male and female will vote you. Don't forget that the women vote even more.
You sound so optimistic about your chances in the coming elections. Don't you think the zoning arrangement may likely affect your prospect considering that you hail from the Benue South zone (Idoma land) by birth?
That is if everybody throws tradition away but you can't throw it away. I'm from Benue south zone by birth and the tradition of Idoma people says that the woman still remains a property of her father irrespective of her marital status. That is why you see that the likes of Maria Aikolola whose husbands are Yoruba picking a two-time House of Assembly ticket from her birth place.
How do you intend to fund your campaigns because we know that running election in this country is very expensive?
The people who are yearning for Ada Chenge are always there to give the needed support. Barrack Obama ran the most expensive election in the history of the United States of America but he did not do so with his finances.
He ran the election based on the fact that the whole of the black nation yearned for a black president in a white man's country.
So, for me I don't think I have stress about the funding of my campaign because the people including youths, women who are actually yearning for unity will support me.
I represent the symbol of a mother and every fighting person would lay down their arms as long as a mother is there. Everybody will support me as a mother. Funding of the campaign would not be an issue for me.
Your party is known for imposition of candidates, if you go in for the primaries and you are denied... ?
(Cuts in... ) I have lived by example. And you know that a party is an association for people to come together to think as one and then forward ideologies.
For instance, if five persons come together and all of them want same thing, if they reason together, then come to agreement to pick a particular person, I think the sportsmanship in others should prompt them to respect the decision. For me, the word imposition used against my party should be withdrawn. My party doesn't impose candidates.
The party usually comes together to weigh people's opinion and then the majority of the opinion becomes the peoples' decision. If I feel that I'm the best and five other people feel not so, then I shouldn't see myself as the best. I had a similar experience in 2006 when I contested the PDP primaries and lost the election in the field, I gave my manifesto to Gabriel Suswam who eventually won the election.
We worked for him throughout the election. I'm a woman of a lot of respect and believe in the resolution of crisis. I don't believe in walking away because I have an issue.
That was why I stayed behind at that time and by the grace of God, Suswam is now completing his tenure. I have already lived the example, so I can now only appeal to those who may lose the election to my own candidature that when they lose out, they should kindly do what I have done for somebody else.
