On Monday, January 9, 2023, President Muhammadu Buhari urged the voting class of Adamawa State to “shun sentiments” and “make history” by electing Sen. Aisha Dahiru Ahmed-Binani as the first female governor in the country through the forthcoming general elections.
Speaking at the flag-off of All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential and Gubernatorial campaigns in Yola, the state capital, Buhari said Binani’s track record of dedication to duty and service will improve the livelihood of citizens.
“You [people of Adamawa] have been given the opportunity to set a record in the history of Nigeria and the annals of democracy and politics in our country by electing the first ever female chief executive of a state in Nigeria. You cannot afford that such a significant opportunity would slip through your fingers.
“I am, therefore, calling on all the men, women and youth of Adamawa State, the northeast and indeed the entire country, to support the candidature of Senator Aisha Binani and ensure her victory in March, 2023,’’ he said.
Read also: Stop parading yourself as APC candidate for Adamawa North, court tells Sen Abbo
However, political analysts and observers believe the president’s call is one that is easier said than done, owing to factors some of which the candidate acknowledged herself during the campaign outing.
Senator Binani pleaded with the First Lady Aisha Buhari, APC stalwart and former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Nuhu Ribadu and member of House of Representatives Abdulrazak Namdas as well as other party chieftains to join hands with her in ensuring success at the polls, and lifting the state to greater heights.
She said the mistakes made by the APC in Adamawa State in 2019 must not be repeated in 2023.
Clinching the APC ticket
In May 2022, Senator Binani won the Adamawa State governorship primary election of the APC by defeating top personalities, including the former state governor Jibrilla Bidow [who has now moved to the Peoples Democratic Party], and Nuhu Ribadu.
Others defeated by the female senator are House of Representatives member Abdulrazak Namdas, a renowned Pharmacist Wafari Theman and former Mukaddas Adamawa Umar Mustapha.
In the contest, Binani scored 430 votes to defeat Ribadu, who came second with 288 votes. Bindo had 103 votes, Namdas 94, Mustapha 39 and Theman 21. Her victory was seen as a major upset, looking at the big wigs that were in the race.
However, in October 2022, a Federal High Court in Yola nullified the APC primary that produced Senator Aishatu Binani as the party’s governorship candidate, following a suit filed by Nuhu Ribadu, who alleged irregularities in the exercise.
The Court of Appeal in Yola reinstated her in November, and Ribadu decided not to challenge the appellate court ruling.
Aisha Buhari’s opposition
The first lady Aisha Buhari and Binani are cousins, but the former has refused to endorse the candidature of the latter. This fact came to the fore when the wife of the president met with APC stakeholders from Adamawa State at the Presidential Villa in November.
She spoke in apparent opposition to the candidature of Senator Binani, noting that the time was not ripe for a female governor in Nigeria. The first lady appealed to Northern leaders to learn from the exemplary practice of their Southwest counterparts in enthroning women as Deputy Governors, describing it as more realistic at the moment
“As an indigene of the State, a mother, a Grand Mother and the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I would like to reaffirm my support for the genuine concern of our party leaders, as well as commit to stepping into problem so that reason and common sense will prevail in Adamawa politics.
“I would again like to repeat my appeal to respected leaders in the North to learn from the exemplary practice of their Southwest counterparts in enthroning women as Deputy Governors in states as a gradual approach to obtaining gender inclusion in our polity.
“This is a most realistic step in our efforts at attaining gender justice instead of supporting the pursuit of the misplaced ambition of an individual do-or-die politician.”
However, the president has left no one in doubt as to where he stands with regards to the Adamawa governorship election, even if some will say his position contradicts that of his wife.
Adamawa female senators
Adamawa State may not be the most developed state politically, but it has achieved a feat yet to be recorded by other states in Nigeria, especially with regards to gender mainstreaming in representative governance. Many also say Adamawa has broken the jinx that women have no place in the conservative North.
So far, all the three senatorial districts in Adamawa have had female senators, when many states in the north are yet to produce even one in the democratic history of Nigeria.
Grace Folashade Bent nee Makinwa was elected in April 2007 to represent Adamawa South Senatorial District. Binta Masi Garba followed when she served as the Senator of Adamawa North Senatorial District from 2015 to 2019. Now Senator Binani is representing Adamawa Central.
Binani is the only female candidate in the two major political parties taking part in the 2023 elections. The late Aisha Jummai Alhassan was the candidate of the APC in Taraba State [which used to be part of the defunct Gongola State with Adamawa] in 2015.
On the cusp of history
Senator Binani is believed to be a grassroots politician who is always there for the people she represents in the National Assembly and the state as a whole.
According to an APC chieftain in Adamawa and a former Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico Aminu Iyawa, Binani made her first surprising debut into Adamawa politics in 2011 with a shot at membership of National Assembly and won seat in the Green Chamber to represent Yola North/Yola South/Girei Federal Constituency.
In a piece titled, ‘History beckons’, Iyawa said “By the end of her tenure in 2015, she left an indelible mark for not only being active in the Parliament, but brought to her constituency, developmental projects and also personally sinking a number of borehole water source in remote villages that were previously neglected by successive governments and representatives.”
“Although she is now the second female to emerge as gubernatorial candidate under the platform of the APC, after late Sen. Jummai Alhassan, whose victory was snatched away from her by the then ruling PDP in 2011, Binani stands to become the first elected female Governor in this country come 2023 because she is very popular across party line. She currently holds the record as the only female senator from the North,” Iyawa said
The Fintiri challenge
Right now, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri who is seeking a second term, seems to be the biggest threat to Binani’s ambition, which can only be neutralized by the voters in the state. Expectedly, the two gladiators have continued strategise ahead of the Election Day.
Facing a woman Binani in the election, Fintiri had to dump his current deputy, Crowther Seth, with a female running mate in the person the Vice Chancellor of Adamawa State University Mubi, Prof. Kelatapawa Farauta. Fintiri is from Adamawa North, while Farauta hails from Adamawa South.
For her part, Binani, who husband ran for Adamawa governor on the platform of the defunct People Democratic Movement (PDP) in 2015, had picked a former House of Representatives member Tsitsi Ganama as her running mate. She is from Adamawa Central while Ganama is from Adamawa North, just like Fintiri.
Will Binani be able to unseat an incumbent in her quest to make history as Nigeria’s first elected female governor? The answer lies in the belly of time.
