Senator Iyabo Anisulowo represented the Ogun West Senatorial District in the Senate and was popular for her bluntness. She speaks with Adetutu Audu on her romance with politics and why she joined ACN.
You have been involved so much in politics in the country, what is your view on the level of women involvement in politics?
Women are more in politics now, unlike in those days. But there are also categories of women, some are just there to support the men; they sing and dance. While some are activists, agitating for political positions to pull their weight and show that they can also do what the men are doing.
But because of lack of enough education, the women have not been able to occupy some of these positions. We want more women to contest election, even if they are not going to win, at least people will know that we tried to wrestle power from the men. But we are improving now.
Politics is also very expensive to play and most women are poor .For instance, when we go for rallies, you have to pay for buses to convey your supporters, cook food, among other things.
In developed countries, it is not like that. You can interact with your people through the use of technology.
Women are not also violent in nature. Politics now involves thuggery and the usage of arms, and only few women can withstand that.
You once said you were not given the second term ticket to the Senate because you were not ready to ‘grace the bed of some old men’ in your party. Don’t you think things like this may be driving some women away from politics?
I said it, not really to scare people but to encourage women that you don’t necessarily need to grace anybody’s bed to get what you want. There is nobody that is perfect, but one needs to take a stand. We didn’t come into politics to be treated like second class citizens. We came to rub shoulders with the men and we can with our money and our resources, and also have the support of our family.
It is not easy to leave home and go and play politics. If you have a husband that releases you and he is supporting you, I think the best thing for the woman is to respect the institution of marriage.
If the man discovers that you are not respecting that institution, then there will be trouble. Many homes have been destroyed because of that. There are more women voters than men. If we have such principled women, we should rally round ourselves.
And you know I won’t be asking such woman to go to bed with me, except I am a lesbian.
You have served the country in various capacities. Do you think the country has been fair to you?
It has not been fair to me. And the country can not be fair to me, when it is dominated by men. Even my own town that I have contributed so much to, I came here early in life with nothing. I turned nothing to something in this place. Men are ganging up everyday that they don’t want the leadership of women.
The Adele of Olu Ilaro is saying that the struggle we are in now is to liberate the men from the women. It is absurd.
You have been a strong woman rubbing shoulders with the men. Can you recount your experience with Isa Mohammed at the Senate for example?
Well, that situation ought not to have happened. I was a strict person and a Christian who used my Bible as my constitution first, before the conventional constitution. What I did was that if as a member of the committee you do not participate in the committee work, you will not benefit in the allowances provided.
At that time, those who were not around wanted to be partakers in the allowances, against which I took my stand. It was as if you have to appeal to them before they should do their work. But if there is an appointment to meet Mr. President, all of them will be around with one of the best of their wardrobe materials. To me, it should not be so. That was what happened between me and Isa Mohammed. He was a rich man and thought that he could do anything with impunity. But l humbled him. I proved to him that l do not swim in shallow waters.
Former National Vice Chairman of PDP, Chief Bode George, came back from prison, the kind of reception he was given was unprecedented. What is your opinion?
I don’t have any view on it. I don’t want to offend Bode George or those who went to felicitate with him. I chose not to go because I didn’t feel like. Maybe those that went wanted to show him that they love him. But I know that many went to see whether he was gaunt, or if he was still okay. But I thank God for him and I know that he will use the experience to be closer to God and know that power is transient. When you have power use it well because it can slip-off you and it is what you did with the power that people will talk about.
Prior to 2011 general elections, you were a chieftain of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s party in Ogun State, and now you are in the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), what informed your defection?
What made me to defect to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was the fact that, in the first instance, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had always been in problems, but I was not part of the problems. I left the PDP in 2007. When the case of Senator Ibikunle Amosun was quashed and the PDP-led government was thinking of zoning the governorship seat to Ogun West Senatorial district, former Governor Gbenga Daniel approached me and even sent some people to me.
He said he was sorry for what he did to me and that apart from that, he was confident that with me on his train, we would achieve this ‘Yewa-for-governor ambition.’ Though I joined, my own choice for a candidate was Gboyega Isiaka from Imeko and the choice of other people within the party was my brother, General Adetunji Idowu Olurin from the same Ilaro with me. I decided to support Isiaka and that was why I had a little romance with the PDP. You should know the relationship between Amosun and I. At the Senate, we were colleagues, we sat beside each other. In my usual self, I don’t really fight people. So, there was not really anytime we had a quarrel that we could not settle.
Again, when I joined Amosun, you should remember that I sponsored the entire Yewa land for ANPP in 2007 general elections. And two, I am the secretary to the Senators’ Forum in the Southwest and as a colleague of mine, I couldn’t just leave him like that, other than to wish him well and say, “I am behind you and also, you are one of us.”
I am a liberal and an activist. I am not particular about any political party, especially when we have several of them without much ideology. Really, here you can not say who you are in politics. What is important is your group interest, where your people will benefit, where they will be able to say, apart from government, they are enjoying government’s patronages and where development is coming to them.
So, that is the main reason I joined Amosun. Amosun has a global vision of what he wanted to turn Ogun State into, especially the state capital where he has started developing.
Asides politics, what do you do?
I am a farmer. I arrange flowers and I am a decorator, though I don’t make much money out of it. I am not too organised but I try to be organised.
