Hawwah Abdulahi Gambo also known as Jiddare is the Kajuru/Chukun Constituency House of Representatives candidate for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2023 general elections. In this interview with IKENNA OKONKWO, she speaks on her candidacy, the Nigerian women amongst others.
What is your background and how did you join politics?
My name is Hawwah Abdulahi Gambo, I am popularly known as Jiddare on social media platforms. I am a multimedia journalist, Blueprint is my home. I have been a part of it for 10 years.
I recently resigned from public service to join politics. I always call this an awakening, a gradual process in my career path because I have been an activist, an advocate for gender equality and women empowerment.
I was a journalist, a broadcaster with Radio Nigeria, before I joined politics.
As I always tell people there’s a time that you have to acknowledge to yourself that you need to do something more, something different other than what you have been doing. This is a new step for me in what I have been doing in my career, to consolidate on those advocacies, leadership and professional career.
Why the choice of a party that is not popular?
African Democratic Congress (ADC) has been in existence for over 10 years, even though it is like a new party where I come from, but it is gaining a new momentum now. Right now, it is time for a new emerging political party because Nigerians are tired of the status quo.
Nigerians are tired of the two-party-system that has been in operation for the past 22 years. Nigerians are yearning for change and that is why ADC gained momentum and capitalised on the need to create credibility for Nigerians.
The importance of strong party structure is perceived as criteria for winning elections, how will you win the voters?
What is a structure? This is why I keep saying that people allow themselves to be deceived thinking they are irrelevant. Who are the structures? People make the structure, anything that has to do with people makes up a structure. Most importantly it is the value that sustains the structure, and we have it.
If Nigerians have been conditioned to believe that they are irrelevant in the political conversation because they are electorate, they are the structure, and the values are what keep the structure, we have the value and we will consolidate on that.
Which is your constituency, and what are the things the people are known for?
Kajuru/Chukum is the name of my constituency. It is the first part of Southern Kaduna and it is an agrarian community. Majority of the constituent are farmers, which has made most of them unfortunately jobless and idle because of the heightened insecurity. Most of them are displaced, and can’t go to their farms.
Ginger is cultivated, corn, vegetables, from the proceeds we can have a viable market.
Your constituency is volatile in terms of security, do you see this affecting the forthcoming polls?
Of course I am aware. Let me give you an example, your house is on fire and your family is inside. You know you can save them, so will you stand back and watch? The fact that it is one of the most insecure areas doesn’t mean we will give up or stand back and watch.
What is your take on efforts at tackl6 insecurity especially at community levels?
One thing I am certain of is that, not everything has been done, and all options have not been exhausted. We can only speculate, so whatever it is that we think may be the solution may not be the solution. So, whatever theory I have now may be useless. In respect to that, we can only come up with a viable solution when we know the real picture.
How will you rate government’s commitment to ending insecurity?
I am of the opinion that the military and the state government are doing justice to that. However, there is a problem to that. It is in the fact that you cannot fix the problem you don’t know.
The reason insecurity is on a rise in my constituency is that there has been an internal conflict among the people of my constituency. Do you know what being your neighbour’s keeper means? Do you know what community policing means? When two brothers fight, their neighbours take their punishment.
Our people need to unite to support the military and government in fighting insecurity, and it is that unity that has been the problem, even in your own house there has to be unity.
So, what are you bringing on board that will improve the constituency if you are elected?
My greatest and most important is my belief that strong women build strong community. You know that Nigerian women have been neglected, especially women in the rural communities. So, when you are able to build the strength of women in the rural communities, the households in the rural communities will automatically be revived, and it is strong households that build strong communities that is why women are at the back bone of it.
Secondly, our huge population of young people; Nigeria has one of the highest population of young people in the world, but we are neglected. The potential and talent of these young people that they can bring into the community are neglected. You know there’s an adage that says: an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. You and I know that a lot of young Nigerians don’t have a job, a many are hopeless, and that is why insurgency thrives. These young people are easily manipulated by people of questionable characters.
However, if you empower them, economically, mentally, psychologically they are going to be rooted and grounded on their feet and they’re the ones that will project their communities, women empowerment, and youth engagement.
Thirdly, conflict resolution; I am a certified fellow of Centre for Conflict Resolution. A lot of conflicts in our community are unresolved. It’s like continuing to push them under the carpet, our leaders just assume to push it aside and it continues to pile up. A time will come that you can’t enter your room. If we intend to have peace in the society, we have to go back to the drawing board, to reach mutual agreement to continue to go to negotiation table.
Nigeria politics is said to be monetised and godfather-based hence vote buying takes centre stage during elections. How will you surmount this challenge?
I have a godfather but I am not the one contending with the money bags. It is the electorate. My responsibility is to tell them my manifesto, and to convince them that I have something better for them. Whether they are going to take something better or going to accept to eat for a day and starve for four years, that’s their choice.
We have seen so far how money collected has taken us, we have seen so far, from 1999 to date, how Nigeria has played money politics. You can see that the politicians in politics today are the one who played money politics, how far has it taken us, what’s the end result? It is not me that is contending with the money bags, it is the electorate. At the end of the day it is their decision to make.
Secondly, 2023 general elections is not going to be business as usual, if there were no laws before that convicted people who buy votes or people who sell votes now there are laws.
So, people who sell their votes and who buy them should know now that they risk jail term. People will think it is a simple thing; it’s my share, after all you don’t see politicians after elections.
Our system is upgraded to flush out, gradually, corruption of any kind. There are inconsistencies that bring us backward and vote buying is part of it. Politics is not buying and selling, it is about leadership. In as much Nigerians continue to see politics as buying and selling it will continue to add to our problems.
Do you have confidence in INEC delivering credible elections?
I am not disturbed about the law that I cannot solve. It is not within my power to solve it; I will just do what is within my power and move on. If we win we work, if we don’t win, we will still continue to do what we have been doing. It’s not a do or die affair. We are here because we want to create change and add value; we want to see our community prosper, if we are voted in.
Do you have any fears concerning the credibility of the general elections?
My only fear is not far from a plea to everyone concerned, not just the state or INEC, it is a plea to ensure that elections are transparent. My plea to the electorate to vote their conscience, don’t sell your conscience because it’s not worth it. It comes back to bite all of us.
To the politicians, I plead that we are all in this together, if Nigeria rises; we all rise together, and if Nigeria fails all of us fail. And if we sit back and do nothing while all of us fail, then we have failed our children. So, it is all of our responsibility that the 2023 general elections is fair transparent and peaceful.
What’s your take on same religion tickets?
I am an advocate of equality and inclusion; I believe everyone has the right to aspire for anything. I believe everyone has the right to be included to every sphere of life, I believe, every one of us has value to contribute to every system. So, I don’t think me being a Muslim makes me the only qualified person to be able to do anything, and I don’t believe that you being a Christian means you cannot deliver much more than me. I believe we have different strength, ability and capabilities, if we are able to work together we can both harness each other’s strength, and complement each other weakness.
Whenever anyone asks me, I say to them all of us are the victims of failed leadership. When we go to the market we are given same price, when we go to the hospital, we suffer the same, I don’t get fuel at a different price because I am a Muslim. We are all victims of the same leadership failure. So, it is a known fact that the politician could use anything to divide the people, because that’s the first and most potent tools to rule people. If you can divide them you can rule them easily, I believe that a lot of Nigerians have grown to that level now and a lot of divisive tendency will have less significance in the coming elections.
One thing that I always say is that I am an advocate of inclusion and I believe everyone has equal rights and everyone has value to contribute, the issue of whether you are Christian or Muslim doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is your willingness to contribute to participate in the process.
If I may digress a little from politics, what are your achievements as a civil rights activist?
In my time in the civil society, I have learned a lot of things. Without activism or advocacy, very little or nothing will ever change in our politics, our social life, and in the aspect of community growth development.
Women issues and even children issues are championed by the civil society group. The government (those in power) hardly know or acknowledge such issues. These issues are pushed and fronted by civil society group.
Is it true that activists are tools used by godfathers to push selfish desires?
I don’t share in such idea, I don’t think so in all honesty. I have never in my mind thought about that. All I have heard is the allegation that activist are working in favour of western belief or to push western propaganda. However, that is not what it is most of the time. To be honest with you, advocacy and activism are among the toughest things to do.
So many gender advocates are likely to face resistance or outright hostility, unless you are advocating for gender equality, empowerment and genuinely you can easily be intimidated. The same applies to every thematic area of civil society work, look at how our society has been resisting and still to a larger extent in the area of family planning, and these when you look at them with objective of planning you will realise that they are rightful, you believe everyone should understand but not everyone does.
What are your agenda for women if you win, considering you have been advocating for gender equality?
I think I will not be wrong to say that men want it all in the every sphere of politics because I have seen the same discrimination in the media. I have seen it as an outsider within the political space how men grab everything. For instance in my constituency, there has been only one House of Representatives member since 2003 and unfortunately it has remained one of the most backward community. When you come to such understanding that things aren’t right and things have to change somehow God gift’s one the courage to do the needful.
I remember telling people that things have to change and they told me why don’t you change them? So, perhaps we are the change we’ve been waiting for as Barrack Obama said in one of his books, The Order City of Hope.
It is always about hope, if we want change. That is why we have electoral cycle, and people need to vote, every Nigerian has the power to vote and constitutional rights to step up and say vote for me, I can do better. And that is exactly what I am doing.
One of the things I have learned, in every aspect of life is that there are challenges you have to face. For instance, if you are climbing a story building you have to climb the steps, which takes a lot of time; when you are changing career, there are challenges; if you are changing your perspective of life there are challenges; when you have Masters Degree and you want to get your PhD, of course there will be challenges. The most important thing is if you’re sure of what you are doing and your convicted you will get it regardless.
Judging by the outcome of Osun and Ekiti governorship elections, how will you assess the use of technology in achieving credible elections?
Personally I think there are two issues. We have a population of 250 million Nigerians, look at INEC staff strength, and compare that to the population of local government we have. I know the agency is doing its best. If I may advice, INEC should have recruited its adhoc staff a year ago, not now. I personally think six months is not enough to prepare adhoc staff for an election because in six months, they will not be properly ready for the job.
Also, knowing they are going to be laid off after the exercise will give them a feeling that may translate in their productivity. For instance, INEC gives them a two-year contract, for the first year you will be on half salary, in the second year they will be placed on full salary. You will be working in full time waiting for election time; you will see commitment dedication to the job.
I know it takes a lot of money and you and I know that Nigeria has the resources. It is not just for INEC, it has to do with both executive and legislature. We have been so conditioned to believe that the only people that run this country is the president, vice president, governor and the deputy governor, a lot of electorate do not pay attention to the electorate they elected State Houses of Assembly and National Assembly, and that is where all the decisions are made. If Nigerians elect the wrong legislature into power and elect the right executive into power, they have shot themselves.
