Nigerian writer and self-proclaimed feminist, Chimamanda Adichie, does not believe Nigerians should be too critical of Dieziani and this is why.
During a speech she gave at the University of Edinburgh, where she received a honorary doctorate degree, Adiche said the reason why Dieziani’s case is being harped on in Nigeria is because she is a female.
Adiche does not believe that men should be allowed to steal while women should sit like ‘angels’.
Here’s what she said:
‘We shouldn’t assume, that because a person is born a woman, that person is somehow is just one step lower than angel. I find it quite dehumanizing for women because what is means is that women cannot be judged on the same terms as men. I remember once a politician in Nigeria who was a woman had stolen money, which is an exercise most Nigerian politicians are very adept at. She was pilloried, I remember a journalist saying and she’ s a woman. Somehow the assumption was it will be better if she was a man because then Nigerians would not judge her harshly since we expect men to steal. I think the idea of women being another specie of angel is bad for both women and men because it makes the standards uneven. I dream of a world in which women are seen as women where women are allowed to be many things.’
Dieziani’s eight count charges have been dropped by Abuja’s Federal High Court. This development occurred after she told the court about being indicted on a count without being given a chance to defend herself. Justice Nnamdi Dimgba heard this plea before he made his ruling.