Women are powerful! We all acknowledge this whether consciously or unconsciously. And although women do not obtrusively show off this power publicly in the way men generally flaunt their authority, their quiet exercise of it is nonetheless, decisive and even far reaching. Indeed, women themselves have turned this power on its head to what we now call bottom power.
In truth it is a thread of radiation (power) which the Almighty GOD planted in women and which manifests in feminine charm. It is therefore innate feminine charm. Should a genuine woman step into a gathering of men, unconsciously, they will all smarten up, to behave aright even if for the first moments.
This innate feminine charm is of course a gift of the Almighty. And like all gifts from the Creator, it is given for a purpose. However, in accordance with our inherent freewill, it can be put to right or wrong uses, to propel the men folk to noble or ignoble deeds.
Consider that a woman (his wife) was at the root of Zimbabwean President Robert Gabriel Mugabe’s fall. Many years ago in England, a king in-waiting had to choose between the royal throne and a woman. He elected to abdicate the throne and follow the woman (his wife) to another country. Our own Dame Patience was said to have more swagger than President Jonathan. She contributed to the apparently easy-going president’s loss of the historic 2015 general election.
It is noteworthy that the two women closest to the former president, namely, Patience and Lady Diezani, according to EFCC, allegedly misappropriated or misapplied the most funds in the anti-corruption crusade. They are the most maligned women in the anti-graft war. And although incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari described the former Nigerian leader in glowing terms when he marked his 60th birthday this week, the actions and inactions of these two erstwhile powerful women during his regime would rub off on him.
Perhaps President Buhari wants to learn from history by literally confining his wife, Aisha, to “the other room”. But can the president resist the feminine charm for long? I recall a picture during live telecast of the inaugural ceremony of the APC federal government. Buhari, a general, leaned rather respectfully to the side of Aisha to hear what she was telling him.
Alas, women have turned this gift on its head, used it for wrong ends, employed it to ‘bewitch’ men, their country and by extension humanity, to the abyss. This in turn brought a chain of vices, lust, coquetry, prostitution, greed, false ambition, morbid craving for earthly power by all and any means, corruption, etc. Women themselves in knowingly or unknowingly misusing their (feminine) charm now bear the brunt as they have become the butt of men; men treat them with disdain rather than genuinely respect them as such.
The population of genuine women is dwindling. In their stead are caricatures who forcefully and loudly throw themselves to the fore and holding on to externals lest they lose balance and influence. Thus, more women now engage in worst forms of greed, corruption, wickedness, etc.
While women bear personal responsibility for misuse of their God- given charm, men also play a part thereof in that they consciously and unconsciously gingered them to so do by succumbing to their (men) own weaknesses. Woe! Woe! Woe!
Victoria Ngozi Ikeano,
[email protected]
