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Opinion

Binani: History beckons

The social media has since the dawn of this Friday been awash with the filtering news from the Lamido Cinema, Yola, venue of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election for 2023 governorship candidates that a surprising winner has emerged.

It has been Binani, Binani and Binani on all platforms. For those outside Adamawa State that may not know that name, it is the popular alias of Hajiya Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, the incumbent Senator, representing Adamawa Central Senatorial District.

Although I am yet to see the official result released by the party, the filtering news from the venue had been unanimous that she clinched the victory to fly the Adamawa State APC flag in the 2023 general elections.

There were six candidates on the ballot and she emerged strong, winning by over a hundred votes against her nearest opponent.

Binani’s victory says a lot about grassroots politics and how she mastered the game over the years. She 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 Contituency.

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.

For most people, including this writer, it was the first time that we knew elected people’s representatives are not just lawmakers, but could also provide physical development to their constituency and seek for job slots for the teeming unemployed youths.

Every few kilometers and in almost every village, a massive water tank with the insciption “BINANI,” fed by motorized borehole catches your eyes from hundreds of meters away.

Her current term in the red chamber has been as productive as when she was in the green chamber and even more. The conversion of the former Modibbo Adama University of Technology to a conventional one, and the recent approval by Mr. President to upgrade the Federal Medical Center, Yola, to a Teaching Hospital attached to the University, both have her imprints, among other laudable developments that can be credited to her.

This is not in anyway denying credit to those who assisted in pushing for the realization of these projects and they are numerous. We thank them all.

If her victory at the primaries stands unchallenged, then it will be history in the making. 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.

Here is celebrating the politician of the moment. A hearty congratulations to Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed (Binani). She has broken the jinx that women have no place in the conservative North. Not anymore. History beckons.

  • Iyawa is a former Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico

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