The Quest for Female Political Leadership in Nigeria: Irene Salami-Agunloye’s Vision in More Than Dancing (Published)
Nigerian women writers are becoming more and more deeply committed to the mistreatment of women in their country. The writers, particularly the female playwrights, use their creations to confront the problem of Nigerian women’s political alienation. Their writings shed light on a number of sociopolitical concerns intended to elevate democratic principles and sound administration in Nigeria. However, this paper takes a critical excursion into Irene Salami-Agunloye’s More Than Dancing to establish the possibility of using drama as a means of projecting the quest for female political leadership in Nigeria. The study uses content analysis of the text to extract key issues captured by the playwright and discusses these issues in relation to female political participation and leadership in Nigeria. The study analyzes the text’s substance to identify the playwright’s main points and then analyzes them in light of Nigerian women’s participation in and leadership in politics. The results show that a number of variables, including the party system’s structure, ingrained cultural views, socioeconomic conditions, political godfatherism, thuggery, and gansterism, are working against women’s attempts to unseat their male counterparts in Nigerian politics. The article concludes that Salami-Agunloye’s play finally brings her vision of a female president in Nigeria to reality, notwithstanding her criticism of the practice of barring women from assuming positions of authority. Salami-Agunloye seems to be implying, then, that the feminist goal of having a female president of Nigeria is achievable.
Keywords: Good Governance, Political Leadership, Women, female writers, playwrights