question_answer Discussion Board for a Question on Quiz: Use of English (JAMB 1994)

PASSAGEIII
Politics in pre-colonial times did not involve the partisan
type of electioneering campaign that we now have. The society
was ruled by a king or an emir and his traditional chiefs or by the
council of elders or clan heads. Where there existed the
hierarchical system as in the Yoruba and Hausa kingdoms,
succession to the throne was mainly patriarchal. A recorded
exception was the case of Queen Amina of the Zazzau Empire
who ruled in the 15th century A.D a host of unsung and
unrecorded women regents and at times women village rulers
abound, especially in the present Ondo State where some
influential traditional female chiefs and regents still exist. In
Ibadan, the famous Efunsetan Aniwura held political as well as
economic sway and it took a lot of drive, brain work and political
engineering for the then king and his council of chiefs to subdue
her. The history of the various towns and villages of the period
could boast of such women who were actively engaged in the
running of government.
In the Igbo soceity, a rise to leadership position was
through demonstrated ability in fostering societal survival rather
than heritage. Women’s voice in the politics of each clan is given focus either through the guild of wives, the guild of
daughters, or the market women’s guild.Women, through these
organs, could make their feelings known on any issue affecting
their community as a whole or females in particular. Thus,
unpopular edicts or ‘decrees’ could be revoked or revised as a
result ofmounted pressure fromany of these female associations.
No decision was usually taken by the men without prior
consultation with the leaders of the women’s groups. It must
however be emphasized that the degree of women participation
in politics was yet much limited when compared to that of men.

According to the author, electioneering campaign is
the approach