Nigeria, May 22 -- In the grand amphitheatre of democracy where every citizen is meant to speak, vote, and lead, there remains a conspicuous and deafening silence. It is the silence of the sidelined, the muted roar of millions of Nigerian women, whose voices are yet to fully echo through the hallowed halls of parliament. In a country where women constitute nearly half of the population, their political representation still hovers just above the margins, a mere whisper in a storm of governance. The debate around "special seats" for women is no trivial theatre. This is not, as some would lazily argue, a sideshow. It is a fundamental reckoning with justice, equity, and the very soul of our democracy.

Those who deride gender quotas misunders...