Excerpts:
What factors inspired you to propose the Sexual Offences Bill?
One of the things you quickly learn as a senator is that, once you are sworn in, your phone number is practically hawked and anybody can get access to you. But I had the policy of answering as many calls as I can. One of those days, a woman I didn’t know called and was weeping, that her husband has been sexually abusing her twin boys. And she didn’t know what to do. This was something that is so shameful. In many cultures, a father molesting his sons is an unspeakable act. If she had made the act public, the whole family would be marked for life. There was nothing I could tell her. I then asked my legislative aide if we had laws that would protect this woman and get her justice, should she decide to report the matter. I asked him if there was a law through which such a man would be given the right kind of punishment. I inquired if there were institutions that could help the man should it be that he had psychological problems which led to his molesting his own sons. Our investigations didn’t give me the impression that we had strong laws to deal with that situation or that the man would get the right level of punishment for such a crime. Also the first invitation I got as a lawmaker was from the Law Reform Commission, they talked about sexual offences. In fact, it was Joy Iloh who invited me to the forum. And the things I heard that day were interesting. I told Joy that sexual offences are one of the things I would like to work on. Again, every day we were reading stories of sexual offences in the newspapers; some even being committed by pastors, teachers and people who should protect children. When I was a reporter, I don’t think we had so many reports of sexual crimes in the newspapers. I noticed even more that things had changed after I started thinking of doing something on sexual offences. So I assembled a team of twenty lawyers, led by a young lawyer. They camped out at the Nigerian Law School for about two weeks. I sponsored them. After their stay which involved their debating the issues, they came up with the first draft of the bill. I also passed it through some senior lawyers, who looked through it and injected their own ideas. In fact, when the first copy of the bill was ready, I gave it to (I believe) Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba. He is a SAN and he felt that I had a good bill. Unfortunately, at that time Senator Eme Ekaette’s indecent exposure bill was being scandalised. People didn’t take the bill seriously. And there you had something (Sexual Offences Bill) that was perceived as trivial and superficial. So, there was confusion at that time. But, on the floor of the Senate, even the most unlikely, supported this (bill). They wanted something done.
Are you disappointed that rather than commendation, the bill has been highly criticised?
Well, anyone who finds herself in this kind of predicament I found myself would be disappointed. More importantly, the manner people have treated this bill will likely discourage people out there who are interested in taking up other worthy courses. When they look at the reception and treatment I have been given, they might just avoid the treatment I have been given. I could have gone through the senate, take care of my constituency, contribute to debates and move on with my life. There are people who didn’t propose any bill and they have not been pummeled like I have been. But I am one of those that believed that we, as lawmakers should redress injustice, that we have to do something to make society better and I know that changing society for the better doesn’t come without sweat. But you have to be ready and stand by what you believe and this is what I have done in this instance.
Having been a two-term senator who knows our laws, would you say our laws adequately protect the girl-child and women?
Well, there were attempts at making laws that protect women and children. The best we have achieved is signing into law, the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015. But each time people try to get laws that protect women and children enacted, their work is trivialised. Issues concerning women and children are rated lowly. They hardly are on the front burner. I have seen the tendency even among women in the positions to deal with these issues, to pull back because they won’t be taken seriously. They are afraid of being laughed at and nobody wants to be laughed at. But I stuck out my neck by working on the Sexual Offences Bill. Even just the title of the bill is something that makes some people squirm. But I just couldn’t keep quiet with too many victims and families suffering in silence. When the House of Representatives committee held a public hearing on this issue, oh my God! You would have suffered a broken heart if you were at the hearing. The things happening in Nigeria are painful, shameful and unspeakable. So we just can’t go on leaving our people crying in silence. What is life for, if we cannot reach out and touch those in need. I believe that if we can see this one (bill) through, it will encourage others to take up causes that will deal with the problems in our society. I just hope that more NGOs and individuals will push for the enactment of relevant laws to protect women and children, just like it was done with the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill. I must tell you that I didn’t get the same support that was given the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill. In fact, the Sexual Offences Bill was passed due to the support of the then Senate President and the Deputy Senate President as well as the chairman Judiciary and Human Rights committee.
From your vantage position, would you say that the female gender is more prone to sexual abuse?
It is naturally so. But we must know that the boy child is also abused. Young men have been abused in their quest for survival. There are young boys who face pressure from homosexuals when looking for work or searching for other opportunities.
How prepared are relevant institutions to ensure that laws such as the Violence Against Persons or bills like yours, when passed into law can be used to ensure justice?
You are talking about the aspect of administration. What we suggest is that the police train a special unit that will handle sexual offences with the sensibility required. There are international NGOs that have the capacity to train the Nigerian police. There are people with a background in social welfare. They have a major role to play in making these kinds of laws effective. The minister/commissioners of Women and Social Development have a major role to play in making such laws effective.
What went through your mind when you read Professor Wole Soyinka’s position on your bill and his call to President Muhammadu Buhari not to assent to it?
Oh, my heart sank. You know, Baba (Soyinka) is our supremo. He always has the final word. He is one of those voices of reason, that when he speaks on an issue, his is the final word. But you see this time, his comment was based on wrong information fed him by some people. We really have to find out who did this to him.
Do you think Fifth Columnists are at work?
If Prof knew the content of the bill, he would have nothing but admiration. He would have campaigned for it to be signed. But somebody fed him with poison on this. We need to find out who it is because that person would probably lead us to a group of persons who want us continue with reports of girls being raped and even killed in some cases. There might be people who want us to continue with the beastly acts happening in the country. By the way, are there not countries around us that have laws against sexual offences? Last year, a Liberian lady that was invited during the work that led to passage of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) bill applauded my bill. Liberia has a sexual offences bill. South -Africa has a sexual offences bill and it also has a mechanism of tracking sexual offenders. In the United States of America, there is a data base for sexual offenders. Once you click on a website, you can check if someone is a sexual offender. In South Africa, it’s not open. But if you want to employ someone or maybe you run a housing estate, you can find out from the police or the social welfare office on anybody you want to do business with. In England, it is the same thing and the law against sexual crimes has been amended over the years. So, what we have now is the first bill on sexual offences which I believe Nigeria can amend until we have a smooth system of dealing with sexual offenders. Nigeria is really changing and we cannot be stuck in the past. We cannot be dealing with crime committed in 2015 with old laws. For example, should we find the Chibok girls, which law are we going to use to penalise those who might have molested them? Aside from jailing them for terrorism, we don’t have any other law that will ensure that these people are nailed for the crime they committed, so that next time, there will be nobody who will contemplate such wicked crime, knowing that he will be locked away for life.
Is this bill your finest moment in the Senate and how did you cope with the many phone calls and your name trending on social media?
(Laughs) Well, God has His ways of doing things. After the years of begging, kneeling for the Rules and Business Committee to schedule the bill and another of my bills, the Occupational, Health and Safety bill, they were both passed. Maybe these bills were the real purpose I was sent back to the senate. Anyone who says this bill shouldn’t be signed, should note that anytime a boy, girl, man or woman is being molested, the cry of the victims will be on their heads. I have done my part.
For the record, was your bill part of the 46 passed on the last day of the 7th Senate and under 10 minutes?
No. I don’t blame those who think it was. They are not part of the National Assembly. The problem is that the National Assembly has been so scandalised, that people just ride on this. The 46 bills came from the House of Representatives to the Senate. What the Senate sent them were about 13 bills. The Sexual Offences as you can see on the copy of the bill that you have went through the third reading. The Senate went through it, clause by clause and passed it. It went through the proper process.
Why did you take a shot at the Imo state governorship?
People have different goals in politics. I wanted to do so much. I found out that as great as lawmaking is, it is constricting. If you were close to the people like I was in the last eight years, you will agree that a lot needs to be done. There are so many problems and sometimes, this makes you feel helpless. There is a limit to what a lawmaker can do on issues like constructing a road or building a school. You cannot declare a thing and make it happen almost immediately. For a lawmaker, you have to go to the ministry and beg the minister to bring this or that project. Having projects in the budget is a different matter as it is with getting money for the project and work being carried out. You can even spend four years chasing ministry officials to execute the project you attracted to your constituency. I had scores of projects that were worked on but after two or three years, I had to be lobbying the ministries on these projects. You look at this and get frustrated a little bit because you work so hard and you don’t get satisfactory results. And you know that the executive arm is where you can really pull people out of poverty, modernise infrastructure and all of that. This is what drove me to contest for governorship really, because I know that being governor is a tough and thankless job. Even just going through the primaries, I had so much heat on my head. When the primary election was over, I was just happy that the heat was off my head.
So, you were happy after the primaries?
Oh I felt like a human being again. All during the primaries I was running around with heat on my head. Being a governor isn’t easy. Anytime a friend becomes a governor, I always ask that they accept my sympathies.
Why did you even attempt the governorship knowing the South- East, like many other parts of the country is mostly patriarchal and not disposed to having a woman as governor?
My people are very advanced. Before I came, we hadn’t produced a female lawmaker. Yet, my people took a chance on me. I didn’t know much about politics when I decided to run. I joined about six weeks to the primaries and they welcomed me. I didn’t share a lot of money but my people supported me. They wanted something different. It is the same kind of liberal thinking that would have propelled them to take a chance on a female governorship candidate. And it will happen. Don’t ask me when it will happen. My slogan was ‘yes she can’. I wasn’t stopped by my people.
Who stopped you?
It was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elite, including the women PDP elite who felt a woman shouldn’t dare contest for governorship. So it’s the elite who arrange things such that however you come out, they tie you and shut the door against you. It started with the PDP national chairman handing over the entire delegates list to my younger brother Emeka Ihedioha because he is a big player at the federal level. So it was like going for an election and the people who will elect you are now appointed by your competitor.
You knew that the door was shut against you and you still went ahead, why?
Why not? I just had to see it to the end. I had to go through with it even with my last breath. I also had to go through with it for women.
Are you going to try again in 2019 knowing that many in Imo still agree with your (Owerri) zone getting the governorship?
I don’t know. 2019 is a long time from now. Right now, I am just enjoying me, being human being, feeling free and trying to return to my profession. A lot has happened in broadcasting and I am trying to catch up. You see, there is a big world out there and if you are determined, with God on your side, you can go in any direction you wish.
What was your happiest moment in politics?
The good thing about being a lawmaker is that you are in the position of seeing opportunities. Be it for jobs or projects and you try to get these opportunities for your people. Some of them least expect these opportunities. Today, I have an army lieutenant that was recruited by my pushing and shouting. Each time he comes to tell me he has been sent on training in this or that country, I just feel good. What could he have been if he didn’t get the opportunity to serve Nigeria. Things like these please me. Of course, people tell me that I did this or that for them. Or is it working on my father’s primary school that looked just like it was years ago. I used the instrumentality of government to give the village a new school and their joy is something I cannot describe. I love singing and dancing with the women. I love campaigning and making speeches. These are the good things in politics. But I hate political intrigue where they plan at night, who to keep out or who not to allow in. I don’t want to sound negative, but we have to find a way to clean our politics. I am talking about where I come from. Criminality should not be part of politics and when it now overtakes our politics, good people cannot come in.
You were at one time a Senate Correspondent. Did the circle close for you when you moved from reporting to being the reported?
Well, it’s all role play. Covering the National Assembly and being in the chambers, moving up and down are different roles.
Did you envisage ever becoming a Senator?
Why not? I started going to the parliament with my father as a kid. I used to sit and watch them. I have related with politicians all my life. You know children can get ideas when they watch you. It’s subliminal. Like you are journalists, your children after watching you over the years, they can one day pick up your profession. That’s why you don’t want to be a thief with your children around. They just might become thieves.
You are a woman of many parts. How would you describe yourself?
I am just me.
Why are you addressed as Chris instead of Christiana?
That’s my Christian name actually. But the Americans prefer shortened versions of names. All my children have three letter names. In the US, nobody has time to pronounce a mouthful of names.
During the “days of terror”, did you find God?
Sure, you have to find God in that kind of place (prison). Going to that kind of place you are practically naked. You go in with nothing. Your knowledge, whatever you are, is left outside the door. You have to find something to keep yourself alive. (Smiles) Did you read the part when I threw the bible at my sister? If what you hook on is negative anger, it will probably eat into you and you may come out worse. So, I hooked unto the positives.
Did they succeed in breaking you?
No. What is the names of the sites you love most;
Expdonaloaded blog and linda ikeji blog
Click photo to download; but you lied to me by Expdona aka finish gravity
Expdonaloaded blog;Click the photo to download aboki wey d suya by Expdona aka finish gravity
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