When Culture Shuffle Dreams: Ilorin Emirate and Aliyu Rahmah’s Presidential Aspiration In Perspective -By John Oyebanji

Earlier today, I read a disheartening news article that has weighed heavily on my heart. A young woman, Aliyu Rahmah, took a bold and courageous step to contest for the National Presidency of the Ilorin Emirate Students’ Union, a move that should have been met with encouragement and open-minded debate.

Instead, her aspiration was met with hostility. Not just disagreement, but active resistance, bullying, and intimidation. She was not only harassed for daring to lead but was dragged to the Emir’s palace, pressured to withdraw her ambition solely because of one reason: she is a woman. The justification? “A lady cannot lead the union because it’s unimaginable for a woman to represent the Emir in any capacity.”

It’s 2025, and yet, here we are.

To make matters worse, I came across a comment from a verified user, a man who proudly describes himself as a “dad and husband,” writing: “We really need to ensure that we properly educate our children on the tenets of Islam, so that they don’t get carried away by the often misleading rhetorics of the new age media and western ideologies! Islam is a complete way of life!”

But what this man calls a defense of faith is really a weaponization of culture and religion against the girl-child. It’s not about faith, it’s about fear. Fear of change, fear of women rising, fear of confronting centuries-old systems that have kept women in the shadows.

And so I ask, what happens to the girl born in Ilorin who dares to dream?

How does she navigate a world that constantly tells her she’s not enough, not capable, not worthy of leading? Even the few who commended Rahmah for her boldness did so with a patronizing tone, as if to say, “You tried, now go home.” Their applause is laced with condescension.

In a place like Ilorin, for many girls, the world is already rigged against them. Culture becomes a ceiling. Tradition, a chain. The same values that should protect and empower them are the very ones used to silence and suppress them.

Imagine if Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, or Kemi Adeosun, had been born in such a context, told from an early age that leadership isn’t for girls, that representing a traditional institution is a man’s role. Would they have risen to global prominence? Or would they have been politely ushered to the background, if lucky enough to even be seen?

This incident is not just about Rahmah. It’s a symbol of the countless dreams deferred, the potential crushed under the weight of patriarchy, the young women whose stories will never be told because they were never allowed to begin.

So today, I mourn, not just for Aliyu Rahmah’s battle, but for the hundreds of Rahmahs we may never know. The girl-child who is told that ambition is arrogance, that leadership is rebellion, that her future must be limited to what the culture permits.

To those who still carry these ideologies under the guise of religion or tradition, know this, you are not protecting values, you are extinguishing light. And the world grows darker for it.

John Oyebanji is a Public Affairs Analyst, Media/PR Specialist, Educational Administrator, and Clergy, among many other things he represents. He writes from Modakeke, Osun State, and can be reached via thejohnoyebanji@gmail.com