bobby 30 in the hole and karachi, the course that attended this times year by rather poor air quality, particularly in northern pakistan. but it's not limited to that. by the time you get to saturday, the snow is still falling half gas and the last couple. but the mountains around it and it stretches through the finals of pakistan and northern india. but to say beyond that of hopefully you can enjoy the sunshine ah. in november 2023 and security service is carried out operation lock so against dozens of muslims. i opened my eyes and saw a machine gun pointed at my head, but a court found the race and now charges it dropped against one of the accused. one, the reason why they are doing this is because they want to intimidate antiterrorist, measure discrimination, austria operation luck on al jazeera nigeria,

is it to hold elections this month? so what's at stake? and we'll africa's largest democracy and economy elect more women into senior political roles. this is inside story. ah. welcome to the program. i'm ta mccrae. 93000000 people are registered to vote in nigeria election on february, the 25th. the country is the most populous in africa. it also has the continents largest economy and is its top oil producer, but with rising inflation, high unemployment and insecurity in the northeast. a lot is at stake. 18 candidates are running for president, including one woman for the front runners and the presidential bryce. ah, the former governor of log all state 70 year olds, bowler armitage,

to new book. he's with the old progressives, congress. 76 year old former vice president pick who abaca is part of the main opposition party, the peoples democratic party. within his wealthy businessman and the former governor of an ambrose state 61 year old peter obee of the labor party. and the one woman in the race is she she o'shea from the allied people's movements. but she is not the only woman running for a powerful position in nigerian politics. one female candidate in the conservative north is raising expectations that she could be the country's 1st elected state governor, act of a se if she wins, it could make a turning point for women in a male dominated society. we'll get to our guests in a moment. at 1st ahmed address has this report from the eastern city of yala. i mean, this is a moment female actress to nigeria have walked for a woman from

a major political party becoming a candidate for governor. and she is a frontrunner. i should have been any overcame religious and cultural barriers in the patrick of society to get to you. she says it's been worth the struggle. it gives woman it gives, so i had daughters and gives us says to the aunties, on why does the confidence that to yes or sole ah, who wore men can walk towards occupying what ever elective position they desire. although women make up half of nitrous population, they've long been on the fringes economically and politically. we know also by virtue of the level of education, particularly in this part of the come to the men out been of the disadvantage compared to men. ha, but actively say changing attitudes and their strength in numbers could work for

them this time. silly time for women, and we don't, we don't want to miss this opportunity. we don't know when we get this opportunity . i guess nigeria is general election later this month is being keenly contested and closely watched women activists across nigeria upbeat the election of a female good and decades of the exclusion from that offers. if that happens, they say the processor could be within reach the outcome of the vote wouldn't be known for weeks. but when our supporters are celebrating what they have already achieved and say, momentum is on their side. it reese, al jazeera eula ah, of a more on this i'm joined by our guests now in a boucher nigeria is a diet hassan, director of the center for democracy and development. a policy advocacy and research organization focusing on development and west africa. and london is any,

all our luck who to reba political analyst and specialist on politicized ethnicities in west africa. and in washington dc is a marker on qu, hit of africa practice at you, raise eurasia group, a womb welcome to you will. thank you very much for being on inside story festival . i just want to acknowledge what a remarkable panel we have today was speaking with 3 nigerian women about women in nigerian politics. any if i can speak start with you 1st. how significant is that? we had even been having this conversation a few years ago. d. thank so you know, i mean, i think the struggle to get access for women and the niger and politics has been an ongoing one last year. so occupations of the national assembly by women after the national assembly rejected a bell for the minimum of 35 percent of women. but i definitely think that we're seeing some powerful development,

not least the election in the election campaign of ice out of money. so me a conversation like this on a stage like this is, is significant. now, thank you for all being on inside story at that. can we just speak about what it would mean to finally have a woman in a powerful position in nigeria? how significant and symbolic would it be to have a woman elected for the 1st time? i think the to the quite an exciting time. it's a beans powering for this personally, the young woman, the children, they go charles in the country with a very huge number of gal, child, and even women. what's one very much in the life, what's politically economically anxious. and it's like this will be like a new beginning and the beginning of this feeling of the soviet practitioner that this guy is just the beginning is what people will eventually feel comes to become

the governor. amongst what chance do you give of a woman being elected and in the selection hook it's, it's really hard to tell. i think it's a close race i said to be benign. he has a lot of support from powerful families in the state. and as you know, she's not the 1st lady to try on a major party candidate ticket. so it is a close race. i think her chances somewhat depend perhaps on whether the presidential candidate of her party wins because incumbency. nigeria is a powerful thing, right? so the, the incumbent governor will have the advantages of incumbency, but if a cost race and she is, she's getting a lot of momentum. so i would say maybe it's about $5050.00 right now. and then i see you nodding nodding along there. what chance you give of banana winning and what do you think that she needs to do specifically to,

to get over the line after that is, that is a difficult question to ask about. so i was not a, in that we've got a raise for the presidential election at the moment and so everything is kind of up to me. yeah. that's me should i was right to point out that having support. so i do has historically been a 2 party thing, got a pc and the pdp or progressive combat congress are backing. i shouted. and having that kind of party machine behind me really can make the difference in an election like this will be keeping a very close eye on on her for i specifically i'm sure a dad and nigeria ranks extremely low in gender equality index writings. now women massively under represented when it comes to politics and nigeria, can you explain why that is? why it has been such a problem for so long?

i think a little challenge is actually responsible for bass. when you look at the current electra 2nd 20 it governorship seats helpful graphs and you have more than phone rates candidates vying for these on house of this. you just have 25 women. which one vein on the main, one of the dominant proxies seek it to tell you the terms of for this i just vine because of the lack of structure. it seems that quite responsible for these. i think one of the very important is the role money plays in politics and niger and the fact that women are ready. i'm not generalized economically, they do not necessarily after watches, design, and religion is also a very important one. and this will be, jo, he's one of the fast, so that's masterly apps in puts, the nannies. imagine says that it is believed that religious it woman cannot need to pray. i. so how do you assess the demand, for instance, imagine how do the tradition now toby says tunnel, do they have to stand up when they meet with tasks? what will that be easy to do?

that's what a month. how will it be actually for a woman? so do all of religion and culture are quite important, but it's most important is the fact that the miss, i guess still puts unity to fly from the platform of the domain not passes. so that takes them household so magically, because vine on the dominance process. tickets means that they have just trust to i believe it's been, they had the money dads, all kinds of financial resources, human resources, that's, gives them the opportunity to try that whole part of the states or honestly. so when they do for america, how do we change that then how does that change, you know, maybe not on the solution, but in an elections down the track. big guys. 10 big question, but let me just come in one second on something i have found was saying, which is it's actually, it's quite fascinating that in my area, the north east, which is a part of the country that people typically as associates with women being to the

mall and never presented, or sort of more subjugated, quote unquote, because of religion. actually, it's one of the most dynamic places so far in terms of women in politics, right? like they have the, the 2nd highest representation in parliament, seconds us out west, more than other parts of the south. and the 2 women who have vied on major political party. the kids have come from the north east. right. so i just think it's interesting. it's fascinating. to think about the role of religion, but also to see you know, how that how that's played out in, in nigeria. what will change it look, i think things like this. take us on the right direction. i think people, i've been, i me coming out whether she winds or not, right. by the time you know, this is the 2nd time that we've had a major run for governorship by a woman on a major party ticket. if she wins, it will break. the grab the glass ceiling and it will start to change the narrative

. any, do you think that there needs to be a quote her to get more women into politics? do you think that that would be a positive for nigeria? so a lot of western countries have kind of formally or informed me taking that approach . i'm not so sure when you're trying to build a ah, build a sense of faith in women's leadership that in the country like nigeria, it will necessarily be effective without at least some caveat. but ultimately, i do think also part of part of the move toward the quality empower team representation is women also having the opportunity to fail in an i had many governors. i never taken the test of their leadership, write a test of that gender as pastor to lead. and so i think we do ultimately need more numbers and we need parties to make commitments to supporting the talent from women

within the party. whether that's at the senate level or in the legislature, or whether that's at the governorship level and executive power. and then then you can start to build a funnel for, for women into the talk position. so everything last about having quotas in the here and now, but more so about actually building the infrastructure for supporting and cultivating women. talents that you would just speaking earlier about some of the religious and cultural barriers that women and politics come up against. what do you think some of the remedies to those? how do they, how women nigeria overcome those? do you think? i think it's really going to be more about message and i'm, it's really about putting the right now i received in the public domain to show that to you. so we can women of participated in the political process. hi, the foundation event, illegals. i just seen the zakiria savvy accident states,

which is one of the bits of politics. so could to like all the call miss lynn fix, in fact, and more than one to have had a very strong woman with their curriculum. and they've been doing this for me here, and there is not him in the program which actually completely for the woman so much him if i suspect him in the in politics and sending roles of the wife of the prophets himself. hi shon, how she played a very huge william, it's like i'm, he's running the she had in the seminar. so what is currently happening is put in those kind of mattresses. and that is what has been done with the demand. so that we can change the mind, whole people. i'm seeing women in power in a, in a powerful political position. what do you think that would do for the next generation of young girls and young women in nigeria? i mean, what i being able to have someone to look up to what would that do for the,

for the, for the younger women in nigeria? i think it is santa claremont says that the sky's the limit for everyone. whether you're male or female, right. i think it creates exploration. it, i think it would create more opportunity. it changes perceptions of societies in terms of how we're going to treat and in workplaces. i do think it has an intangible impact, and that's why i have a slightly different view on quotas, right? what do you want to call a quarter encouragement? i think that if you look around africa, the countries that have some sort of a guidance, you know, i know a lot people don't like the word quote. if i don't like the, what put a to but the countries that have showed and intentionality around increase in women's participation, whether it's true laws or regulations, guidelines are doing way better than mine to africa has. they're almost half of the parliament is women, right? they have no internal rules within the party,

and as well as national laws in kenya, their laws, they're not meeting those laws, but they're way better than they are in terms of representation. timing over 20 percent of the parliament is female. and well, several more governors. rwanda have those kinds of rules, families have those kinds of rules. all of them are doing way better, right? so i do think you kind of have to push initially to get those numbers and then lead to intangible effects. take you across the line, just moving on from female candidates to female voters that any of the main political parties were presidential candidates actually trying to engage with, with female voices. are they pitching policy specifically towards women any further over to you? and so kind of look at the manifestos, there is certainly quite a bit and a couple of them factors about mental health, which is a really big issue from nigeria and preventing the tunnel that unfortunately,

it doesn't seem that any candidates made any significant commitments to improving women access to kind of positions of senior, already within society, whether that's in the private or the public sector. but ultimately i think that in the election like the weather is already so many different dynamics. you have a situation whereby margins are more man register to vote than there are women in the area. and you'll have a situation where people have competing interest, right. if sandoval, that, that hasn't been the front and center if this campaign, however, i think the role of civil society organizations, women, ourselves as well as to push candidates actually to stop speaking in specific and detailed times about what they want to do for women. you know, we've had in the last 5 years, a number of women appointed to see suite positions to me, to ship and private companies. and if that not translating into the public sector

and that's not translating into politics. and we really, as a country have not much to show for it. much has been made about this election specifically that there's a huge amount on the line. can you explain what is it at stake for nigeria here? i think a lot of us think really because it cannot be false without a horse one when it comes to the issue of woman, you had spoken incense so that 14 percent of the registered floaters have actually been women and they've women presentation is quite dis months in this elections, which projects and that is my as they handled the elections with just the 2 fellows, 3 or 4 things maximum with as in taishan. so a lot is really, i think, gets in some of those seats and gets him to representation is very important. and it's also important because at this point in the life of the country, the question is to keep coming on focus on in fact. so we are talking just inclusion of gender. we are talking about the inclusion of young people happening.

50 religion tend to be represented. the best way you can do is when you can find the holidays and you have the nonsense that every segment of society included in the whole electrolyte assistance. right? a market, i mean, do you think unemployment in the cost of living inflation, the shortage of bank notes even. i mean, is that leading to a greater engagement because it's actually impacting people's everyday life that you know, did their wallets, do you think that that is what has gotten more people engaged in the selection? i don't think it's, i don't think it's the bank notes. it's, it's hard to tell how the, the most proximate, the most recent issues will impact the election because it could well make some people not be able to afford to travel to election. right. so it's, it's hard to tell. i think i think the bigger driver is just decades of other

investments in nigerians, in public health care, in infrastructure, in roads and people are disillusioned with the establishment. right. people are disillusion with what both political parties represents. right. so i think there's, there's just that there's a high level of, it's been a while since we've been doing this democracy, right. it's been a while over 20 years, and it's time for the democracy to deliver some, some dividends, right beyond elections. right. so i think there's, there's a high level of frustration. i think it's great, we'll see, i hope that the turn out is higher than we've seen in, in previous years, because i think that will send a strong signal to the political elite. do you think any that there will be push back on the political elite? is there a candidate that stands out the can step up against the establishment? so we're seeing 3 holes grades. we've seen a really strong movement emerge around us, candida peter,

be in the election now a b came out of the pdp. so that's important to kind of know, but i think that more important the actual candidates in this election as the political engagement that we're seeing. right. and this can't be seen in isolation . we're going right the way back to occupy nigeria, right, the way through to i think the last time i was here we were talking about and right . and so you've got a young population. i do have an incredibly young population who are engaging with politics and making demands of politicians that they hadn't previously done thing regardless of what the outcome of the election it's given that party machines are very powerful. it's not, it's not clear what the outcome is going to be. there is a really strong sentiment that nothing is going to go back to normal off to the collection. and if that energy is mobilized into the organization, youth organizations mobilized into holding whoever. when's the election to account then what we're probably going to see if the next task that fails to do the job and for your time we're going to get voted out broad. yeah. only get 11 shot at it

a day. it in previous elections, there have been times that there's been polls that have been rigged to vote buying . do you think this time the vote will be free and fair and there's not going to be as much or any corruption. i think this time around nigeria and that kind of very energized on behalf trust in the system compared to the previous election. electro samples and lots of reasons are responsible for each. for instance, the introduction of technology such as the bi mood faqua dictation system, the vast, the police old feeling platform as kind of impute some confidence in the system. and it's even making people want to turn out to exercise their franchise on that stage for protruding, for buying in this will elections would be like a very huge drink because because of this new technology, what it also means that they will one who will actually pick your life and life

rules because they to not really know are saying fair, which is the best way you can influence the house, is actually to bite the votes. well, the custody of my make you to be some difficult to a bit difficult to bite. but 12, and 4 latisha sat very adaptive unrest responses. oh, i know we had al jazeera, we will be keeping a very close eye on that on how the election does play out and just to broaden it out even further. a market, you know, this election does have wide ramifications, doesn't nigeria, being one of the largest democracies in the world has consequences for it elsewhere and west africa? so how important is it in terms of sitting an example of how a strong democratic country looks like? and what can be done that's a lot of responsibility, but i do, i do think it is important in kenya, which is a much smaller economy. also had

a very close election last year. last august. the, the opposition come to who was actually the comment deputy president, right, if it was kind of fascinating race one, anybody was very close. and so i and, but it was seen as an example of what democracy should be ready was close. the, the losing candidate can see that last it was largely peaceful. it was mostly run on issues very so i do think nigeria, the most populous country in africa, the largest black nation in the world. and if, if we can get this election be to be seen as credible, i think where we're major is have the highest level of trust in the electoral process today in my viewed. and they've had since 1999 and part because of the changes it was just explaining. and so if i'm,

but i think what's important is what happens after the election now in a very close compared of 3 horse race. that's the, the electorate is divided, right? there's going to be a big chunk of people who feel cheated in one way or the other because they did it when. and it's very important what the media does. very important was civil society does. it's become of a very, it's become a favorite tactic of politicians to impugn the credibility of electro processes as a political tactic to keep the base energized. it's very important that my jillions was a fight media does not let that happen in this election. as long as if there is a, you know, if you mean jana elections will not be perfect, there will be some, some, incidentally, the violence. there will be some incidences of whether it's intention or unintentional errors on the, on the function and fun sheets. but if, as long as there is a general sense of, you know,

people are being able to vote really into, in the way there was, it's very important for the rhetoric for leaders. not the politicians were the media and the source of heidi to lift up and reinforce the credibility of the process. and he just very quickly because i've only got a minute also left. but how hopeful are you that these elections will be run into an affair? and, and non violent way, especially in the mouth like a mock was saying with, you know, 3 really close candidates and certainly, i think i'm very trust in the new changes. so in addition to the b last, we've also got new electoral act which is much stronger on malpractice. and we've already seen that an action where you've had an election nullified in washington state that i think it really does hang in the ballot right? when you have people who are fully committed to a different nigeria who believe,

genuinely that which i've counted up a best supporting is the best choice for nigerians and who maybe are fad information which undermine the credibility of the election. you have all of the seats that you need for incitement violence, right. and so there was a really heavy responsibility on everybody who was speaking about the elections, who's participating in the elections, not to, to set that up. i do think however, that nigerians, after a really long period of under investment are tired, i think the tired of fighting. right. and i think that whatever happens, whatever is the outcome of the election and everybody plays the role of the best opposed to the people will be regardless of the candidate when ready to get ready to get the ball rolling and ready to move forward. thank you. so much like you say there is a huge responsibility and a lot at stake writing on this election. thank you so much. i'm to out 3 guests

today at house on any on our local to reba and a marker uncle. and thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website al jazeera dot com, and for further discussion, go through our facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash ha inside story. you can also join the conversation on twitter. handle is as a inside story for me, toma crane and the whole team here. bye for now. the news we understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world. so no matter how you take it out, 0 will bring you the news and current affairs that matter. to you. countess era. debating the issues of the day. if ty

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