By Omole Ibukun
I learnt one important thing from this “first female” drama. It is that what you’re doing right now matters much more than your historical glories. “I used to be a radical” is not true credibility, if you’re no longer standing up for what’s right. It would have been so easy to erase the history of Madam Ene Obi if she had not remained true to her passion for social change till old age. That is how to gatekeep history – with your present consistency. Not by arguing details of the past.
For years now, Madam Ene Obi has been consciously trying to change the material conditions of student organizing in Nigeria through her work, latest being through her just-ended role as the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria. Years after leading UNIJOS as the first female Student Union President, she has remained committed to making the lives of Nigerian women and girls better.
The lesson here is that female leadership goes beyond the emotional appeal and petty egoism that comes with having a woman in power. It is actually about using your role as a female leader to make the lives of women and everybody else better. From Ene Obi, 1989 to Jane Pwajok, 2024, we must consistently state that “female president” is not about the title but about the praxis. 35 years ago, history noted that Madam Ene Obi’s student leadership disrupted the oppression (whether management, government or patriarchal oppression) within Unijos, and that is what’s important.
The question we must ask Ms. Pwajok after her landslide victory (an impressive 59.10%, truly!) is that; will her victory pave the way for grassroots transformation, or will it be reduced to just the optics of female representation?
Without judging to early, the fact that Ms. Pwajok was quick to use question of “caretaker” versus “elected” or “sworn in by the management” versus not “sworn in by the management” to discredit Madam Ene Obi’s historical contribution to student unionism is a very telling sign of what is to come in her leadership. The important question to start asking her is whether she will be a steward of radical change, or a mere placeholder in a patriarchal system that might also erase her efforts in the future, if she does not make a mark.
That said, I really do not think Madam Ene Obi’s legacy needs to be defended. Her work will continue to speak for itself. Her legacy is standing strong and there is no desperate need for an apology to restore Madam Ene Obi’s legacy. If an apology is made by Pwajok, it can only serve the purpose of preserving some bit of historical accuracy, for an history that’s already preserving itself.
Ms. Pwajok, whether you were first or twentieth, collective liberation is the task of student leaders and those who stay loyal to to that cause are often rewarded unintentionally with some individual legacy to their name. What you do is more important that what you are. People like Ene Obi used their feminist and student activism to make this possible for you. It’s not about “firsts”. In a time when elected student leaders and their activism is collapsing all over Nigeria, your task is to make sure you are not the last elected female student leader or last elected student leader of that school. For yourself, your task is to also ensure that this is not the last time you make history positively.
