IT was from an online news platform Tori. Ng, that I saw the story. We might even question its veracity, but the human-interest content is very rich! It said that on Sunday, August 9th, the 2015 election of the National Association of Nigerian Prostitutes (NANP), ended in chaos, when violence broke out, following the declaration of a certain Jessica Elvis, as winner with 300 votes, to defeat incumbent secretary of NANP, Madam Felix Efoyo, who got 153 votes, while the Nasarawa state coordinator, Tamar Tion, came third with 63 votes.

The 2015 electoral committee chairman (the NANP equivalent of Professor Attahiru Jega), Franca ‘Top Up’ Chikam, had announced the result of what was apparently a keenly contested election. But Madam Efoyo was said to have “revolted and ordered” fresh election insisting that she had been rigged out.

Commercial sex workers

The election, according to Madam Efoyo was marred with irregularities. Naturally, what followed was an argument that led into a fight breaking out, according to the Tori. Ng report: “In the process, one of the commercial sex workers believed to be loyal to Efoyo broke a bottle and stabbed another of her colleague(s)”.

This scenario with the members of the NANP resembles exactly what happens with members of the Nigerian political elite. We can substitute NANP with any of the nation’s political parties and the situation would still very much be the same.
Politicians dispute the results of elections; they never accept that their opponents won ‘fair and square’ and when push comes to shove, they will get their thugs to express their frustration in the manner that members of NANP also resorted to “self-help”, breaking bottles and cracking heads!

It is the political culture that has been extrapolated into society, and reproduced by members of the National Association of Nigerian Prostitutes or could it be that these attitudes are intrinsic to the underdevelopment of our societal ethos, and are therefore taken into social engagements by the politicians and their prostitute compatriots? It is remarkable that an incumbent secretary of Nigerian Prostitutes disputed the result of elections that went against her, in the same manner that every election that is lost by a Nigerian politician had been “rigged”! Sitting tight is the in thing, whether with leaders in the prostitutes’ association or amongst members of the nation’s political elite!

And talking about prostitutes, I am not sure of when they began to organise under the banner of the National Association of Nigerian Prostitutes (NANP), but just a few weeks ago, on a different thread, I was remembering prostitutes from a different era in our national life. From the age of eight, I went to live in one of the Hausa neighbourhoods of Ilorin, where my mother came from. The Okesuna area of Ilorin is also where the oldest primary school, the Okesuna Primary School is located, and was attended by generations of children from my grandfather’s generation.

One of the attractions of the neighbourhood was the Hausa-only brothel, which had a heavily made up MAGAJIYA, who was serenaded practically every evening by different groups of Hausa musicians. Magicians, artists of different genres were almost always performing with that old prostitute holding court and we watched in remarkable incredulity because these were prostitutes and their leader who carried herself with so much panache.

The MAGAJIYA seemed to enjoy the respect of the men who came to keep her company.And there were other groups of prostitutes at Sabo Line, Sabo Oke, Mararaba, behind Niger Hotel and also on Oyo Bye Pass, that became Ibrahim Taiwo Road in 1976, after the coup which killed General Murtala Muhammed and then Kwara State military governor, Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo. Several other newer brothels would emerge during the 1980s and beyond!

Margin of society

Prostitutes, or commercial sex workers as they eventually became identified, seemed to be located on the margin of society even during the 1960s, but the fact that they were there nevertheless, spoke to the essential role that they played in society, even when the service they provided was frowned upon from the standpoint of religion, ethics and culture.

Of course, there reigned a culture of hypocrisy about prostitutes and prostitution in general, because people used their service, in very clandestine circumstances while openly staying within the frames of societal disapproval of services procured from prostitutes. The fact these women came from other parts of the country to ply their trade made them very much outsiders.

But they had a savings and thrift culture, because around our family house resided BABA GANI, a deportee from Ghana, in the wake of the deportations carried out by the Ghanaian President, Dr. Kofi Busia in 1969. He was the Muezzin in our mosque and collected the daily “Asusu” and his best clients were the prostitutes behind the famous Niger Hotel, Ilorin. They made daily contributions from January till a few days to Christmas, when they collect the proceeds of their labour to travel home for the holidays, usually returning to work, by the first week of January.
Dozens of prostitutes

The cycle then begins again; until one year, just about a few days to when the monies are normally collected, and it was discovered that Baba Gani had disappeared into thin air! A few days later, dozens of prostitutes took over the neighbourhood, many wailing and shouting obscenities! A whole year’s saving from active service had disappeared with the man who seemed an example of piety but who chose to scam commercial sex workers big time!

There seemed to be some method to the ‘madness’ of the prostitutes of that era, almost like the more gentle approach of the political elite of the period. Today the culture of broken bottles and fight over the election amongst members of the National Association of Nigerian Prostitutes resembles very much the way that our politicians act with serious consequences for the health of our society.

In fact, the kernels of prostitution seem to be central to the praxis of politics, as politicians ‘port’ and ‘de-port’ from one party to the other without any semblance of honour or principles. It is absurd that society accepts one tradition of prostitution with its politicians, but frowns at the work done and services provided by prostitutes. Talk about double standards!