From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The First Lady, Aisha Muhammadu Buhari has described as victory for Nigerian women emergence of Sen. Aisha Dahiru Binani as the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress Party (APC) in Adamawa State.
According to a statement by her media aide, Aliyu Abdullahi, the First Lady, said this in her congratulatory message to Binani over her victory at the just-concluded governorship primaries of the APC in Adamawa State.
Mrs. Buhari called on gubernatorial candidate not to rest on her oars, as the journey had just begun.
Recall that at the maiden edition of the National Progressive Women’s Conference in January with the theme “One Voice Uniting for Progress”, Mrs. Buhari had asked the ruling party leadership to ensure that women are put in strategic positions in the party.
According to her, the participation of women in politics will have a significant impact on the country’s development.
She has also at a dinner hosted for presidential hopefuls from various political parties in April, asked presidential aspirants across parties lines to adopt women as their running mates in the 2023 general election, especially considering the voting strength and involvement of women in politics.
She had also at the female APC aspirants summit, early in the month put together by the Office of the Women Leader of the ruling party with support from the International Republican Institute (IRI), had amidst complaints of women aspirants being pressured to step down and give way to their male counterparts, had urged the party, not to use the excuse of giving women free forms to relegate them to the background.
Binani, polled 430 votes to defeat her closest rival, former Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), boss, Nuhu Ribadu, who got 288 votes, closely followed by a former governor, Umaru Bindow, who scored 103 votes to come to the third position in the election.
Abdulrazak Namdas got 94 votes while Safari Theman scored 21 and Umar Mustapha got 39.
Binani became the first female governorship aspirant to win a primary election to represent a major political party in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.