I’m Raising My Sons To Become Feminists, Says Ex-Adamawa State Governor’s Daughter  

Lubna Saleh Michika, daughter of the first civilian governor of Adamawa State, Abubakar Saleh Michika, does not like how women are treated in Nigeria, especially in Northern Nigeria and she is determined to change it.

She hopes to change the narrative by raising her three sons to become feminists.

Ms Michika, a former broadcast journalist, is a feminist who loves to call herself her father’s controversial daughter because she is not shy from speaking out against maltreatment of women in the North.

Speaking from the United Kingdom  in an interview with THE WHISTLER, she revealed that she walked out of her marriage of many years which  yielded three sons and relocated to the UK because she cannot “conform to this misogynistic, patriarchal culture.”

Posting a video of herself from the UK on social media, she had commented thus: “I walked away from a culture that belittles, traumatises, oppresses, subjugates and asks too much from women. An environment that tagged women as inferior.”

Explaining the video to THE WHISTLER, she said: “I have been struggling with the societal setup that a woman should be lesser, especially where I come from. I am a very, very expressive woman, I am curious and very hungry for knowledge.

“From my father’s house to my husband’s, all that was expected of me was to be a good woman. And being good means do as you are told, sit still and don’t have a say.

“So many rules that don’t sit right with me. I struggled for years, risking it, trying to send my message across. I did it through spoken word,  poetry and write ups on social media. The backlash was too much to handle on top of family rejection.”

She said she went through emotional, mental and financial abuse, which according to her is what women mostly go through in marriages.

“I have experienced it all. Threats from family. And at some point, I was attacked in my own house by siblings, all because I dared to be different,” she explained.

Ms Michika said walking out of her marriage had been the hardest decision in her life, but she had to do it to save her life and kids.

“I can never leave my kids behind. I endured a lot because I wouldn’t leave without them. I don’t want my boys to have the mentality that women are inferior. I am raising them to become feminists,” she said.

In another video she posted on Facebook recently, she attacked a female Muslim preacher, Malama Juwairiya, who reportedly sermonized that women should always apologise to their men to win their hearts.

Ms Michika responded by lashing out at the preacher, saying: “All these things you keep outlining for us to do, did we tell you we have not done them? Do you also practice them all?

“Malama Juwairiya, it is so wrong of you to make these women think that all these are what keeps the man. We’ve been doing these since the beginning of time for men!

“You sit down in this modern day and era with all these? You’re a woman and you’re adding to our problems, we don’t need this now. Since the beginning of time this is what we’ve been hearing. We’ve done it, this is not what holds a man. Stop adding to our pains.”

Speaking further, she said, “We have husbands but we don’t want to be their slaves. We want to be partners, we want to love each other equally. I respect you, you respect me, that’s what you should be preaching, we are not going to listen to you, stop this.

“You’re looking out for the support of men. Yes, you want all the men to say ‘you must be like Malama Juwairiya!’ You’re faking it, you’re not perfect. I don’t know how you’re a woman and you’re anti women. Is there anyone who has annoyed you in the past? I feel when you’re preaching, you’re venting out anger. There’s this anger you’re projecting. You distort me with your anger, I can feel it in your voice.

“We as women are here for men to use however they want, you keep telling us, teach us how we should live with men and teach them lessons for maltreating us. Not making us the weaker ones!”

She said this is an era when women need their freedom, when they want to stand on their own and need their rights.

She also revealed that she started a club called The Vampire Dolls in 2020, during the Covid 19 lockdown as  a platform where women can express themselves without fear.

“I am very passionate about women’s rights, especially northern Nigerian women. Being one myself, I know how difficult it is to be a woman from northern Nigeria, especially a married woman.

“The name “Vampire Doll” speaks for itself. It’s intended to say the world needs to fear us, not the other way round. I mean, the vampire as we know it to be, is a scary thing huh?” She explained, adding that she planned to carry on with the project in the UK.