Only yesterday, we were itching to celebrate the New Year and dive into 2019. But in the twinkle of an eye, we’re five days into 2019. While 2018 may be history already, the events that shaped the year for womenfolk in particular, will, for long, linger in memories. Weekend Woman takes a quick look at the major women-related events that got tongues wagging across the country in 2018, beginning with the most recent.

By Josephine Agbonkhese

 

DECEMBER

Super Falcons clinch AWCON trophy for the 9th time

Despite losing their first match, the Super Falcons defended their Africa Women Cup of Nations, AWCON, championship title when they, on Saturday December 2, 2018, got crowned winners of the 2018 edition in Accra, Ghana, after beating South Africa 4-3 on penalties in the final.

This makes it the ninth time in the eleven editions of the game that the girls are claiming the title.

This feat also automatically secures them  a slot in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup which takes place in France between 7 June and 7 July, 2019; a tournament the girls have never missed since 1991 when it started.

 

NOVEMBER

Four Nigerians make 2018 BBC ‘100 women’ list

It was again a big win for Nigeria as four of its women were globally celebrated for their achievements in various fields. These were Amina Mohammed, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General; Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin, social entrepreneur/activist; Bola Tinubu, a lawyer; and Chidera Eggerue, an award-winning blogger and author, who all made the 2018 BBC ‘100 women’ list.

The BBC list celebrates inspiring and influential women who have used their positions to spark actions in the review year.

57-year-old Mohammed was recognised for being a strong voice for women empowerment.

Abisoye, 33, who is founder of GirlsCoding, was recognised for being a women’s rights activist fighting to balance the gender gap in science and technology. 51-year-old Tinubu was recognised for her work in corporate law, especially in establishing the first free children’s helpline in Nigeria. Eggerue, 27, is a best-selling author and blogger at Slumflower and has been featured in many publications including British Vogue, Elle UK and The New York Times.

 

Nigeria’s lone female speaker faces impeachment saga

The joy of having at least one female  Speaker throughout the federation was almost cut short mid-November when Hon. Rita Maduagwu, Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly,  was allegedly removed from office.

Maduagwu who was said to have been immediately replaced, however, faulted the impeachment exercise, saying the action of the lawmakers would not stand because the members involved were not up to 22 as they claimed. The impeachment process was thwarted by the clerk of the house who refused to swear-in the newly-elected Speaker and also by the intervention of the state executive.

In an interview with Woman’s Own,  Maduagwu attributed the attempt to rid her of her Speakership position to gender prejudice. We pray our lone female speaker successfully rounds-off her tenure this year.

 

OCTOBER

Mama Taraba gets governorship ticket at last

October brought both joy and pain. A breakthrough it was for former Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Aisha Alhassan, who eventually got elected the governorship candidate of the United Development Party, UDP, for the 2019 Taraba Governorship race, just days after she joined the party.

Alhassan, fondly called Mama Taraba, was unanimously endorsed by all the party’s 224 delegates from the 16 local government areas of the state. The party’s only other aspirant, Abdul Razak Gidado, had previously stepped down for the minister after she joined.

Recall that Alhassan was the candidate of the APC in the 2015 governorship election and came close to becoming Nigeria’s first democratically-elected female governor, finishing second (275,984 votes) to current Taraba governor, Darius Ishaku (369,318 votes).

We hope she emerges one of Nigeria’s first-ever elected female governor this year.

 

Elizabeth Ochanya raped to death

A great pain it was for womenfolk and the society in general when man’s inhumanity to man was again brought to the fore in October with the cruel death of 13-year-old Elizabeth Ochanya, who was raped to death by two relatives—a father, Andrew Ogbuja, and son, Victor Andrew Ogbuja.

https://newlive.vanguardngr.com/2019/01/population-explosion-hits-aibom/

#JusticeforOchanya which has since emerged as a social media hashtag determined to ensure the law prevails.

A knight, 51-year-old Ogbuja, a senior lecturer in the Department of Catering and Hotel Management, Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, and his son, Victor, abused Ochanya serially through the vagina and anus for five years, leading to her infliction with Vesico Vaginal Fistula, VVF, and then to her death  on October 17, 2018.

 

Only two female presidential candidates emerge

Ahead of the 2019 general elections, female presidential hopefuls were already hitting seven by mid 2018. Of the list were Professor Olufunmilayo Adesanya-Davis, Dr Oluremi Comfort Sonaiya, Dr Elishama Rosemary Ideh, Adeline Iwuagwu-Emihe, Eunice Atuejide, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili and Princess Oyenike Roberts, who aspired under different political parties. However, after the primaries, by the time the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, released its provincial list of 31 presidential candidates mid October, only two of these women, Atuejide of the National Interest Party, NIP, and Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN, made the list.

This was a major disappointment as some of the female aspirants had vowed to defeat the incumbent president and other opponents at the poll, generating hopes that Nigeria’s first female president might emerge in 2019.

 

SEPTEMBER

Kemi Adeosun takes a bow

After headlining the news for months over her alleged forged National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, certificate, barely eight months to the completion of her tenure, the third woman to have ever held the office of Minister of Finance in Nigeria, Kemi Adeosun, bowed out of office on September 14, 2018, to end the growing rage. The former Minister who was born and raised in the United Kingdom and only acquired her first-ever Nigerian passport at age 34 in 2001, enjoyed a quick ride to the top when she relocated to Nigeria, only to be cut short by wrong associates who had helped facilitate her acquisition of an NYSC exemption letter. She sure knows now that certain things are better done without “third parties” in Nigeria. Anyway, the vacuum created was filled immediately by President Muhammadu Buhari who appointed the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, as Supervising Minister of Finance.

 

Mama Taraba screened out of race for APC governorship ticket

True to predictions by many, including  Vanguard Woman’s Own in September 2017, that she wouldn’t survive her public show of disloyalty for her boss, President Buhari, the immediate past Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan aka Mama Taraba, was, in September 2018, screened out of the race for the governorship ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in Taraba State; where she had contested almost successfully in 2015.

An angry Alhassan resigned from Buhari’s cabinet in a letter dated September 29, 2018, citing ‘grave injustice’ after she was not cleared to contest for the party’s governorship ticket in its primary election.

Affirming our prediction, the APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, had disclosed that she was not cleared by the ruling party’s National Working Committee, NWC, because she was disloyal to the party.

This was in reference to Mama Taraba’s 2017 public endorsement of former Vice- President, Atiku Abubakar, whom she referred to as her political godfather, to become President in 2019.

 

Former Minister Funke Adedoyin bids farewell

September ended on a sad note as 56-year-old Funke Adedoyin, a member of the House of Representatives from Kwara State, breathed her last.

Daughter of famed Nigerian industrialist, Samuel Adedoyin, Ms. Adedoyin died of cancer which she had been battling in the past few years. She was appointed Minister of State for Health by former President Olusegun Obasanjo during his second term between 2003 and 2007.

 

AUGUST

Five Nigerian girls win Silicon Valley prize for developing fake drug detector App

August began with five Nigerian teenage girls from Regina Pacies Secondary School Onitsha, Anambra State; Promise Nnalue, Jessica Osita, Nwabuka Ossai, Adaeze Onuigbo and Vivian Okoye, winning first place in the junior division of the Iridescent Technovation World Pitch Summit held in San Jose, California. The team, Save-a-Soul, developed an app, FD Detector (Fake Drug Detector), capable of tackling the problem of counterfeit pharmaceutical products in Nigeria. Iridescent Technovation World Pitch Summit is the world’s largest tech entrepreneurship program for girls.

The team was selected from 2,000 mobile app developers to represent Africa at the pitch competition. They won ahead of rivals from the US, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan and China.

 

Theresa May makes first visit to Nigeria

The month ended with the first-ever visit of British Prime Minister, Theresa May, to Nigeria. May said she was in Nigeria to bring jobs and enhance trade links between Nigeria and Britain. Thus, during her visit, she had meetings with the Nigerian business community and met with Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Mr Femi Otedola and Mr Tony Elumelu, among others, in company of members of her trade delegation. She had earlier met with President Buhari and signed agreements on Defence and Security partnership, among others.

 

JULY

Office of the First Lady’s many aides

One of the biggest news that got ears tickling and tongues wagging in the month of July was the revelation of the President’s default on his stance concerning the Office of the First Lady. President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2014, had said he would not have an Office of the First Lady should he emerge president, claiming that such office is not provided for in the constitution. However, a report by the International Center for Investigative Reporting in July alleged that the Buhari-led government had so far appointed several aides for the offices of the Wife of the President and that of the Vice-President’s wife. It alleged that out of the 118 advisers and assistants appointed by the administration, 10 have been in the exclusive service of the wives of the president and the vice-president and that their services should have cost the nation N4.4 billion by the end of July 2018.

 

JUNE

Africa’s first female chartered accountant, Olutoyin Olakunri, bids farewell

The month of June stole Nigeria’s boardroom matriarch and woman of many firsts, Chief (Mrs) Olutoyin Olusola Olakunrin.

Olakunrin, 80, slumped while attending a church service in Lagos and died afterward before reaching a hospital.

A woman of awesome attributes, the accomplished accountant and educationist was indeed a figure of global repute who excelled in male-dominated fields in her long, glorious career. Her sterling contributions, especially to the Nigerian economy, were unparalleled. Her pioneering role in women empowerment was legendary while her exceptional managerial acumen and unique diligence stood her out as a shining star among her contemporaries.

She was Africa’s first female chartered accountant. She also served as the chairman of Education Trust Fund; and was a past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN.

Olakunrin was the former president of the Society of Women Accountants in Nigeria, SWAN, and was involved in auditing account of major organisations. She was the mother of Derin Agbaje, the wife of Segun Agbaje, Managing Director of GT Bank.

 

MAY

Meghan Markle weds Prince Harry

What started as a blind date two years back between Prince Harry, sixth in line to the British throne, and U.S. actress, Meghan Markle, finally became a significant part of the history of the British monarch on May 19, 2018, when Markle finally said “I do” to Harry.

The wedding held in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom, metamorphosed Markle into the Duchess of Sussex. The duo exchanged vows to the admiration of millions of guests and viewers worldwide. In fact, the ceremony took home the title: UK’s ‘Most Memorable TV Moment of 2018’ in a national poll reviewing the year in television.

 

APRIL

Four years on, 112 Chibok girls  still being held

On April 14, 2018, with marches, chants and prayers, Nigeria marked four years since Boko Haram abducted more than 219 schoolgirls from the remote town of Chibok, with renewed calls for their release and that of thousands of others seized in the bloody conflict.

A total of 219 girls were taken from the Government Girls Secondary School in the remote town in Borno State on the evening of April 14, 2014 and have become an enduring symbol of the Islamist insurgency. Four years on, 112 are still being held.

 

Barbara Bush dies at 92

Former US First Lady and literacy campaigner, Barbara Bush, breathed her last on April 17, 2018, at age 92.

She was the matriarchal figure of a political dynasty that included two presidents – her husband, George HW Bush and son, George W Bush. She was also the mother of Jeb Bush, who served as governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007 and unsuccessfully ran for the White House in 2016.

Mrs Bush, who was First Lady from 1989 to 1993, had been in failing health for some time and had declined further medical treatment. Her husband, at 93, is the longest-lived US president.

George and Barbara had celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary in January 2018, making them the longest-married couple in presidential history.

 

MARCH

Leah Sharibu withheld as Dapchi schoolgirls regain freedom

104 of the 110 students of Government Girls Science Technical College, GGSTC, Dapchi, in Yobe State, abducted on February 19, 2018, by Boko Haram insurgents finally regained freedom on March 21, 2018. While five were said to have died, the only Christian student among the 110 girls, Miss Leah Sharibu, is till date being held by the insurgents because of her faith and refusal to convert to Islam.

Reports said the girls were brought to Dapchi in nine vehicles and dropped outside their school at about 8:00am by persons suspected to be their Boko Haram abductors. The abductors had declared later in the year that Sharibu would remain their slave forever.

 

FEBRUARY

Nigerian women take Africa to Winter Olympics

In the news almost throughout the month of February was Nigeria’s first-ever participation in the Winter Olympics which began February 9, 2018, in South Korea. Thanks to four of its own, Seun Adigun, Akuoma Omeoga, Ngozi Onwumere and Simidele Adeagbo, all in the Diaspora, who made this happen. This propelled the newly-formed Bobsled & Skeleton Federation of Nigeria to undergo the ritual of complete registration.

 

110 Dapchi schoolgirls abducted

Almost stealing the shine off the month, however, was the abduction of 110 schoolgirls aged 11-19, on February 19, 2018, by Boko Haram from the Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, GGSTC, Dapchi, Yobe State.

 

JANUARY

Sex dolls in Nigeria

Sexually “functioning” robots became the rave of the moment early in January in Nigeria, becoming available for purchase for only N800,000. This sure got Nigerians talking throughout January and beyond, with celebrities like Wizkid describing it as costlier than human commercial sex workers, otherwise known as prostitutes. A Nigerian twitter user also set the social media on fire when he tweeted that he had acquired a sex doll that shares a striking resemblance with Nollywood diva, Mercy Johnson-Okojie, whom he claims he admired and simply wanted to idolize. Manufactures actually claim these robots afford men the chance to craft their dream women.

 

Ebonyi lawmaker suspended for turning photographer

Among the biggest and weirdest news in January 2018 was the suspension and recall of Maria Ude Nwachi, a lawmaker representing Afikpo North-East in Ebonyi State House of Assembly, “for abusing and disgracing the honourable house by turning herself to an ordinary photographer” in public despite previous warnings, according to the state Assembly.