Until 2011, the highest position a woman has won was a seat in the House of Assembly. The popular parties have never even considered them a running mate to governorship candidates.
As 2019 beckons, insideoyo.com revealed the three leading female politicians in the pace-setter state.
Except in 1999 when Adepeju Esan, Ramata Okemakinde and Abiola Odunbaku were elected to represent Ibadan North constituency 1, Ibarapa East and Ibadan South West State Constieuncies respectively in the State Assembly, no woman was considered for something politically juicy until 2007 when Mulikat Adeola Akande was elected to represent Ogbomoso North, South and Oriire federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Abuja. She was re-elected in 2011 and later became the House Leader. That same 2011, Monsurat Sunmonu, who was elected to represent Oyo East/West State Constituency, became speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, the first in the history of the pace-setter state. That same year, Jumoke Akinjide was appointed Minister of State for FCT.
In 2015, the number of women in politics increased as Sunmonu was elected to represent Oyo Central senatorial district while Olawumi Oladeji and Bolanle Agbaje were elected to represent Ogbomoso North and Ibadan North state constituencies respectively in the State Assembly.
However, the state is still in search of its first female council chairman.
With that, people had expected that was the beginning of greater heights. Few years after all these, they have become silent and their silence, especially for young women politician, is not encouraging as the 2019 general elections draw near. This is apart from the fact women are not charged any fee to obtain nomination form, an action put in place to encourage women.
In the South Western part of Nigeria, only Oyo and Ondo States are yet to have female deputy governors.
However, insideoyo.com has observed three leading women who can aspire to become governor, deputy governor etc in the nearest future.
Below is what you need to know about the trio:
‘JUMOKE AKINJIDE
Olajumoke Akinjide, as she is fondly called, has a First Class Honours in the English Solicitors Final Examinations. She holds an LLB (Hons) Second Class Upper Degree from Kings College, London University, and Masters Degree in Law (LLM) from Harvard Law School, USA. She has dual qualifications as Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and as a Solicitor of England and Wales.
She worked with Simmons & Simmons, one of the top ten firms of Solicitors in the City of London. She is a member of the Section on Energy and Natural Law of the International Bar Association; the Nigerian Bar Association; the Chairperson for West Africa for Association of International Petroleum Negotiations AIPN; the Institute of Petroleum (UK) and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. She was also a Director, Abuja Investments Company Limited AICL from 2008-2011.
In May 2001-September 2003 she served as the Special Assistant to the President on FCT matters and later as Special Assistant to the President on G77 matters and Nigerians in Diaspora (NIDO).
She was the Managing Partner of AKINJIDE & CO. Barristers, Solicitors, and Arbitrators, one of the leading Nigerian commercial law firms. She has extensive post-qualifications experience, principally in petroleum, company and commercial law; she is an experienced Arbitrator and Mediator Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide has supervision and management experience with a proven track record of successfully driving strategies and initiatives. She has dynamic leadership qualities and is a team player.
She is also a grassroots politician of high repute and was a candidate for the senate seat, Oyo Central Senatorial District on the PDP platform in 2011, the same year she was appointed minister.
MONSURAT SUNMONU
According to her wikipedia page, she had her primary school education at Children’s Boarding School, Oshogbo- now the capital of Osun State, Nigeria.
She attended the Ilora Baptist Grammar School, Ilora, Oyo State, for the early part of her secondary school education before transferring to Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo State.
She later attended the Kwara State College of Technology for her ‘A’ levels.
Monsurat briefly worked at the Accounts Department of the Property Development Corporation of Oyo state (now Housing Corporation) in Bodija Ibadan, Oyo State before travelling to the UK in 1979.
Sunmonu attended Holborn Law tutors for her LL.B. She then went on to the London School of Accountancy to complete a course to qualify for the Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators. She later attended Lewisham College for her Business in Management Studies.
After completing her studies, she briefly worked at the National Westminster Bank (NatWest) before taking up employment with the Government of the United Kingdom. There she worked in the UK Border Agency (UKBA), as a Detained Case Work Manager; a position she held for over 20 years.
While at the UKBA, she attended various managerial and executive courses and was one of the first Nigerians be given “higher security clearance” in the British Government.
Sunmonu rose through the ranks to be a senior member of the British Government; before leaving honourably and graciously in 2011 to contest for a seat in the Oyo State House of Assembly, where she would go on to become Speaker.
Monsurat Sunmonu was then nominated to be the Speaker of the House at its inauguration on 10 June 2011 she became the first female Speaker in the history of the Oyo State House of Assembly.
She is of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
MULIKAT ADEOLA AKANDE
She was born in Kaduna to an Ogbomoso parents. She attended St. Annes’ Primary School and Queen Amina College in Kaduna. After her secondary education, she proceeded to College of Arts and Science in Zaria for her A levels and thereafter went to Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) in 1979, where she read Law and obtained her LLB in 1982 with second class upper division.
She proceeded to the Nigeria Law School in Lagos where she obtained her BL. After the Law School she did her NYSC with Nigerian American Merchant Bank in Lagos in between 1983 and 1984. After her NYSC she went to University of Lagos (UNILAG) for her LLM which she obtained in 1985. From 1986 to 1996 she worked in different organizations and private legal firms.
She later joined Continental Merchant Bank Plc in 1988 and while at the bank she was deployed to CMB Homes Mortgage Bank Limited as Head of Legal and Administration. In 1994 she was later appointed company secretary /legal adviser of the bank, a position she held until the closure of the bank in 1996. After living the bank she set up her own legal practice under the name of M.L. Akande & Co .She was elected into the House of Representatives on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) representing Ogbomoso North, South and Orire Constituency in the year 2007 and re-elected in 2011.
