A feminist examination of Wale
Okediran's tenants of the house
by Bright
Sado Omo
Tenants of the house is a fictional
representation of the happenings in the House of Representatives.
Tenants
of the house is a fictional representation of the happenings in the House of
Representatives, the second highest legislative council in Nigeria. The events
chronicled took place between the years 2004 and 2007. These include the
aborted impeachment move of the then Speaker of the House and subsequent attempts
at a bogus constitutional amendment in order to extend the tenure of the
executive arm of government.
Okediran
develops several character portraits through which he establishes the strengths
and weaknesses found in the legislative and executive arms of government in
Nigeria. For instance, Chief Ambrose Oneya, the president, presents the picture
of a power-drunk, manipulative and greedy fellow who is temperamental and
psychopathic. Through the characters, honourable Yaya and the Deputy Speaker of
the House, the ruthlessness in politicking and the viability of the phrase “no
permanent friends in politics” is delineated. The possibility of hope and a
sane future for Nigerian politics if there is an educated majority in the
legislature is not sustained as even the seemingly upright Honorable Samuel
Bakure is not consistent in his morals.
However,
the de-prioritization of women in the African context is very well evident in
the novel. Out of a total of three hundred and fifty members of the House of
Representatives, only fifteen of the members are females. The only female
legislator mentioned is honourable Elizabeth, who represents Kaduna state,
where the protagonist, honourable Samuel is from.
Women
are considered as weaklings, unintelligent, docile, incapable, unreasonable,
lazy, and so on. These have a direct influence on why African masses elect male
representatives into the Legislature.
To
prove these various perceptions about women wrong, Wale Okediran structures the
character of Elizabeth as a Man in a female clothing. She is bold, smart,
intelligent and knows the operations of the legislature. With her experience,
she is well rooted in the house so much more than most of her male counterparts
such as Hon. Samuel who she guides on how to operate in the house. She is so
bold and fearless like a man that she acquires a gun for protection and knows
how to guard it against the detective eyes of the security machines in the
"Hallowed Chambers.
Even
though all of these manly qualities of hers are negative, they still prove to a
reasonable extent that the sayings; "What a man can do, a woman can do
better", is true. She introduces Hon. Sam to influential honourable such
as Hon. Yaya Suleiman, the speaker and however enlightens Hon. Sam on some of
the necessities of a politician.
Women,
through the character of Hon. Elizabeth are portrayed in the novel as vibrant.
In the impeachment plot against the speaker, she is saddled with a significant
role as one of the front-runners in the facilitation of the impeachment. Hon.
Elizabeth's Vibrancy is also proven on the Impeachment day as she moves around
the hallowed chamber "mobilizing members against what she considered a
sinister attempt to remove the speaker."
Lizzy
even gets into a rift with Hon. Ajayi who is against the evil plot. "She's
very conscious of her feminity and willowy elegance", so much that she
warns Hon. Ajayi "don't dare touch me again", after she had brushed
away his hand when he touched the nape of her neck. Furthermore, the saying that
goes "that there are no permanent friends in politics advances its cause.
Lizzy and Sam who ended up opposing themselves during the impeachment saga soon
found themselves on the same side, on the basis of interest. The president who
was opposed to the speaker Yaya soon found the speaker on his side during the
proposed Constitutional amendment which will effect a tenure elongation for the
speaker.
As
the heat of the Constitutional amendment rises, the house is again split into
two groups. That of the speaker and that of Hon. Kalkulus, a member from Oyo
state. Here, the filthiness of politics is further exposed. The President,
chief Oneya, as a result of his craze for money and power seeks to push for his
tenure's elongation using the National Assembly, despite his non-performance,
embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds, docility and deafness to the
plight of the citizens who he classifies as "hungry passive
constituents, who will go for anything." His ambition sought vehemently to
negate the fact which stood that it was the turn of the North to produce a
president."
Speaker
Yaya, however, gives assent to the president's request on the basis that the
proposed tenure elongation will, in turn, benefit the legislators. This exposes
the considerations of public office holders and political leaders of their
personal interest over the interest of the masses, undertaking whatever
unreasonable tasks just for their greedy ambitions to see the light of the day.
As things played out, the feminine figure, Lizzy, is again a major player,
being an influential member of Hon. Kalkulus' group to which Sam too belongs,
as the group motive is to disrupt and finally stop the Tenure Prolongation
Bill. While Hon. Kalkukus' doles out responsibilities during his group's
meeting, he saddles her and Hon. Samuel the responsibility of visiting the
Labour Congress in their quest to stop the proposed bill.
As
it happens, with determination and consistency, Lizzy and other honourable in
Hon. Kalkulus' group is able to stop the bill, despite the discouragement of
some members who could not contain the temptation of a whopping one hundred
thousand dollars bribe to legislators from the presidency in order to gain
their support. The legislators are also faced with serious threats,
surveillance and harassment by security agents, coupled with numerous kidnap
attempts on their families. Notwithstanding all of these, one can see that with
the unifying effort of males and females, they are able to achieve their aim.
This,
however, proves that women are hand-working, smart, intelligent, reasonable,
determined, agile, active, and so on. These are reasons why they should be
given far more considerations to function in political, social, economic,
financial, health, technological, religious and other institutions which make
up the country, as they will be well positioned to engage all of the
above-mentioned qualities constitutively, in the development and advancement of
the nation.
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