—S’West Legislators Forum chair Omidiran
Football enthusiast, philanthropist and politician, Hon. Ayo Omidiran, is reputed in the National Assembly for her cerebral contributions and distinct dressing style. The member of the House of Representatives, who represents Ayebaade/Irewole/ Isokan federal constituency in Osun State on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is not only the leader of the Osun APC Caucus in the House, she is also the Chairperson of the South-West Legislators Forum. She spoke with VICTOR OLUWASEGUN and DELE ANOFI about her politics and lifestyle.
One of your legislative interests is human capital development and you are also in the committee on women affairs. How do you feel about the fact that the number of women in the parliament is dwindling every four years?
It is a big issue that we have tried to address collectively as members of parliament since the 7th Assembly. Unfortunately, our environment does not encourage women to go into politics. A lot of people we even try to draft as women when we see that they are women of substance are reluctant. I told you earlier on that I was already affecting people’s lives. But the biggest platform to really affect people’s lives is to represent them. As a representative of the people, you have to champion anything that will affect them here, make sure the laws don’t affect your own people negatively and champion causes that will affect them positively.
Whatever we want to do, instead of helping individuals all the time, we now think in a broader way and try to help communities. When you sink a borehole in one compound or ward, you have given water to more than a thousand people in some cases. Then when you go to a village and sink a borehole, two to three villages will go to those villages to fetch water because they are always close to each other. These people cry for water, and if I were not here, I would not even think of it. So, we try to get women to come into politics because of our natural makeup. We are very kind-hearted and there’s less distraction unlike men who are easily distracted by girls, who call the men even when the men don’t call them.
There are lots of women in politics now, but they are used for canvassing for votes, dancing at rallies and serving at meetings. But when it comes to real politicking, women are always quietly pushed back. For example, in 2007, I got the ticket of AC free just to encourage women. In 2011 when we had changed to ACN, I also got the form free as a woman, and in 2015, I got the form of APC free as a woman. But this year, APC is charging 50 per cent of the cost of form for women.
Forget the cost, the concept has already excluded a lot of women. Because when you buy a form, there is no guarantee that you will get the ticket. In Uganda and Rwanda, they have more women in parliament than men. We got them to talk to us and they said it was a deliberate policy; something they put in their constitution. We tried to make that amendment here but it failed. So, what will the women do? We will continue to struggle to make sure that we are better represented at every level, especially in elective positions.
You are known as a colourful dresser with your own brand of bright prints. Is that intended to make a cultural or fashion statement?
First and foremost, I dress for comfort. Because when I am in the sporting arena, I don’t wear traditional dress; I wear jeans and suits. I wear gowns too. But my first concentration is comfort. I don’t like to inconvenience myself because I want to look like everybody. That is number one. Now this my dressing here, I’m Yoruba and I’m representing a set of people who most of the time dress like this. You know when you are a representative, when they look at you, they must have an idea of where you are from.
In the 7th Assembly, I used to dress differently; not consistently like this. On some days, I would wear traditional attires. On some days, I wore skirt suit while on other days I wore pants suit. That was how I used to dress in those days. The only common thing everybody knew was that as a Muslim, I don’t leave my hair open. I was always covering my hair with a cap. And even up till now, anywhere I go and I’m not in traditional attire, you will see me cover my hair with a cap. When I was much younger, I used to just love showing off my very long, luscious hair. But now, I just pack the hair under the cap. It is maturity really, and part of showing that my area is mostly Muslim.
You know in Ayedaade/Isokan, we have more Muslims than Christians. So I am a Muslim and I dress as a Muslim. I decided to dress in Ankara in the 8th Assembly to make it easier for me to do my work. You can see that my buba style is oleku. It is like I am wearing blouse but it is still the traditional buba. So it is very functional dressing, it is decent and a lot of our colleagues tell me that their wives are always admiring me when they see me on TV. Some of them will say, ‘Get me some of these materials,’ and I tell them, ‘your wives need to learn how to tie the gele (head gear) like I tie it, because getting the material is different from that. So I have to get them the material and the head gear.’
You see, the way I put it together is just about me. It is very simple. I believe the simpler, the better. So, it is just that I have eyes for good colours and good prints. I choose what I buy depending on my mood. Sometimes I wear dark colours, sometimes I wear bright colours, but most ankara come in bright colours. It is a fashion statement. It is also comfort and functional dressing and convenience.
Being a woman first and then a pretty one in a male dominated political environment, don’t you feel the pressure, like being intimidated while putting your views across?
Well, by nature I’m not a very soft person. I wouldn’t say that I take my looks for granted because at least I try to maintain my colour and make myself remain beautiful. But then, it does not matter to me. It is just one of those things. I am grateful for my looks, but that is where it ends. I used to tell my children that my look was a disadvantage growing up because people always believe you don’t have anything upstairs if you are beautiful. And I think it comes from people who try to use beauty as an advantage over what they have upstairs. But God has created women with extra advantage. You have your head and your tail, you can choose the one you use. If you choose your head, you will go very far in life because people will realise that you’re getting things done by merit. You will get the respect of those people and you will attain what you set your mind to. If you use your tail, you can’t go as far as using your head, and you are going to lose respect after some time. So, irrespective of looks, I always encourage women to always use their head.
Let me give you an example: go to a secondary school and ask for the last exam. You will find that girls make up 80 per cent of the top 10 in the classroom. It shows that girls are naturally brilliant. But then, distractions come in, so they stop reading, and at the end of the day, you may have reduction in output. So, you can decide to use your brain for the advancement or your tail (beauty). If a man is handsome, he cannot use his handsomeness to get marks. So, women are blessed.
So, as I was saying, I don’t feel intimidated, because you can’t intimidate me. When I was appointed to the FIFA committee in 2006, the FIFA U-17 and U-20 women’s World Cup Organising Committee, it was the first time and I was the only African in that committee. Whenever there was a meeting in Zurich, I would be the only black among all whites. There was a time they delayed the meeting for a few minutes because my flight had a delay, and I felt so good. It was not because I am a black woman but because I always made my presence felt. I was never late for meetings; I always contributed when I needed to and to the extent that I started teaching others how to do things.
Also, when I was a board member of the NFA between 2002 and 2005, I was the only female among 21 members. After about two years, I asked the men why none of them had ever taken me out, and the response of one of the men remains one of the best compliments anybody has ever given me. He said: ‘It is not that we don’t admire you, but there is something about you that keeps saying hands off!’ To me as a married woman, that was the best compliment anybody could have given me. I don’t do it intentionally, but out of my actions and interactions, they don’t see a frivolous woman, and that was because I saw everybody as equal.
I don’t see any reason why anybody will want to intimidate me. You will be intimidating yourself when you are incapable of doing the job assigned to you. You will be afraid because you know you are not at par with other people. Sometimes, my children call me a bully. I will rather keep quiet than tell lies. So anybody who has dealt with me knows. Even my constituents. And they appreciate me for my truthfulness. But it took a long time. If you ask me for something that I can’t do, I will tell you immediately. They used to hate me for it, and my political colleagues will tell me that politics is not like that. But I will say no, if we are going to establish a relationship with these people, we have to start on the truth.
You have a very beautiful tattoo. What informed that?
I had this tattoo after my election in 2007 when votes were not counting. I was the choice of the people, but the result was announced from Abuja and it was given to the candidate of the opposition party, Hon. Etteh, who happens to be my sister. After that election, it was a baptism of fire for me as a first timer. So, I had to go and cool off in the USA where my children were staying.
One day, when we went shopping, I saw a tattoo shop and I said I would love to get a tattoo. I didn’t just pick a tattoo, I picked a tattoo that has a meaning. If you check my tattoo very well, it is a rose surrounded by thorns, and in the midst of thorns, the rose will still blossom. To me, no matter the challenges, you will still make it. I had it in November 2007. It was my birthday gift, and any time I look at it, I don’t see any impossibility. So, it is an inspirational tattoo. It is beautiful and colourful. But the tattoo tells a story that what will be will be no matter the challenges if you don’t give up. My husband loves it.
But in this part of the country, people see a matured or a married person wearing a tattoo as a deviant?
Where I come from, tattoos are normal. My mother had tattoo. There used to be local tattoo and they are still tattoos. They will even say that I am modern instead of having olden days’ tattoo. I have the modern one. Like I told you, it is a meaningful tattoo; not that I have a face of an animal or something else. It is an inspirational tattoo. Everybody I explained it to have always looked at it differently from then on.
I want to tell you that I have had people come to me to say that they love my tattoo. Nobody has really looked down on me because of the tattoo. I remember a day I sent a picture on twitter and somebody said, ‘Honourable with tattoo; na wa o.” So many people attacked the person without me saying anything. Maybe the person does not have elderly ones with olden days’ tattoo. Your personality matters the most. If you are lying to the people, before long, they will see through you. So, it is about the real you and not just an aspect of yourself.
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