Adamawa: Why Binani’s Defeat Is Another Missed Opportunity For Nigerian Women

The hope of having a woman elected a state governor in Nigeria was, again, dashed as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aishatu Dahiru, was defeated in Adamawa State.

Mrs Dahiru, popularly called Binani, was unable to secure 90 per cent of the votes cast in the supplementary election, which she needed to overtake Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). At the conclusion of the election, Mr Fintiri polled 430,788 votes to Mrs Dahiru’s 398,788 votes.

The first phase of the election was held on 18 March but declared inconclusive leading to the supplementary election.

After the 18 March election, Mrs Dahiru trailed the incumbent governor with 31,249 votes. The supplementary election, which took place in 69 polling units where elections were cancelled, had 42,785 registered voters while the Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) collected in those polling units were 36,935.

It, therefore, meant that to overcome the deficit and win the election, Mrs Dahiru required an almost 100 per cent turnout and about 90 per cent of the votes cast in the supplementary election

That did not happen.

The turnout was about 50 per cent and Mr Fintiri secured a majority of the votes, according to the electoral commission, INEC.

At the end of the supplementary election, the incumbent won 9,337 votes while Mrs Dahiru polled 6,513 votes.

Popularly called Binani, Mrs Dahiru symbolised a ray of hope for women in politics, especially following the outcome of the 25 February Presidential and National Assembly elections which saw women’s representation in the Nigerian parliament take a nosedive – the lowest since 2003, PREMIUM TIMES reported.

Illegal Declaration

Before Mr Fintiri was finally declared the winner, an official had illegally declared Mrs Dahiru the winner of the election.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Adamawa, Hudu Ari, had, on Sunday announced the APC candidate as the winner of the election while the collation of the results of the supplementary election conducted on Saturday was still in progress.

The candidate went on to read an acceptance speech amidst the pandemonium created by the announcement.

When INEC declared the announcement null and void, suspending the collation of the results, Binani on Monday approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to stop INEC from voiding her illegal declaration as Adamawa governor-elect.

The court on Tuesday adjourned hearing on the suit until 26 April.

Another opportunity lost

Though disappointing, Binani’s loss is not surprising, gender advocate Adenike Aloba said.

“Women failed in the February 25 outing and a win now would be a surprise.”

Of the 92 women who contested for the Senate in the February elections, only three won, while out of the 286 who contested for seats in the House of Representatives, only 15 have been declared winners.

Her win, for Mrs Aloba, would have been a bright spot in a dark period for women in Nigerian politics and for Nigeria and its aspirations for development, especially as it concerns SDG 5.

“Of course not naive to think this is the beginning of a sure-to-come groundswell of women’s representation in Nigeria’s politics but like the distant twinkling of the lighthouse spells hope for a sailor in the middle of a turbulent storm, her win would have been a beacon of hope,” she added.

Like Mrs Aloba, Bukky Shonibare noted that a Binani win would have been a history-making turning point for women’s political representation in the country.

“A far departure from the trend of female representation in political elective positions where we have had fewer women, particularly in a political party that is one of the top two,” she said.

Although Nigeria’s North is widely seen as a conservative region that limits women’s rights including political participation, facts negate such stereotypes. In Adamawa State, women have been repeatedly elected to the National Assembly. Folashade Bent, Binta Garba, and Ms Dahiru have been federal lawmakers and the current deputy governor of Northwestern Kaduna State is Hadiza Balarabe a woman.

In the case of Ms Garba, she was first elected to the House of Representatives from Kaduna State before she switched constituency to Adamawa, a rare feat. She was later elected to represent Adamawa North in the Senate.

Mrs Aloba described Ms Garba as a star twinkling from the North; “a region often vilified for patriarchal norms, could now be providing leadership in the area of gender representation is another reason to hope.”

She wished the people of Adamawa gave Nigeria the opportunity to again test its readiness for female leadership.

“A Binani win would have shed some light on the dark, dark horizon of diversity, equity and inclusion in Nigeria’s politics and governance,” Mrs Aloba added.

Binani faced strong pushback from conservative sections in Adamawa on account of her gender. Some Islamic clerics in the state reportedly warned their followers not to vote for a woman to lead them.

She however had a few on her side who argued that Adamawa State was a secular state and as such a woman could run for public office in the state.

Adamawa is one of the many states in Nigeria with very low female participation in its parliament. There is only one woman in the state’s parliament. For the 2023 election, only 13 women were among the 242 state assembly candidates.

Ms Shonibare said Binani’s loss is a major setback for women’s representation in Nigeria’s political sphere.

“Binani’s win would not only have emboldened women to dare as Binani has done, but it would also be a new status attained for women while boosting the confidence of young girls in the region who daily choose between being educated and staying alive,” she added.

Binani’s win, for Ms Shonibare, would have been comparable to that of Kamala Harris in the US which could have shown that Nigeria may be on its way to having more women brave the odds to vie for top elective political positions.

“Her win was particularly crucial considering that Adamawa State is in northeast Nigeria – a region that has endured over 13 years of onslaught by the Boko Haram terrorist group with a core approach of preventing girl-child education and limiting women,” she said.

Possibility of Election Petition

Binani is no stranger to election-related court cases and is expected to contest the outcome of the election with a case already adjourned for 26 April.

She had earlier in an interview on Channels Television, asked INEC to review the results of the governorship election in some local governments where she disagreed with the number of votes scored by the PDP candidate.

She accused the governor and the PDP of using violence to manipulate the election, alleging that INEC ad-hoc staff were not present in some polling centres.

Like Binani, Like Mama Taraba

While Binani is the latest woman to come close to being elected governor, others have made similar efforts, with the closest being Aisha Alhassan (also of APC) of Taraba State in 2015.

Just like in Adamawa, the Taraba election was initially declared inconclusive. A supplementary election was held in affected areas. The PDP candidate, Darius Ishaku, was declared the winner of the supplementary election and overall winner of the governorship election. However, Ms Alhassan, popularly called ‘Mama Taraba’, challenged the result at the election tribunal.

The tribunal nullified Mr Ishaku‘s election and named Ms Alhassan as the winner and the duly elected governor.

When the matter eventually got to the Supreme Court, it ruled in Mr Ishaku’s favour and dismissed the ruling of the tribunal.

The outcome did not diminish Ms Alhassan’s popularity in the state and across the country. She was named minister by President Buhari but she eventually defected to the PDP. She supported Mr Ishaku’s re-election in 2019 before she passed away in 2021.

Binani and Politics

It is not clear if President-elect Bola Tinubu will name Binani a minister when he is eventually sworn in and names his cabinet.

However, this election is not expected to be the end of the political journey for Binani, a journey that started over a decade ago.

Mrs Dahiru was first elected as a federal representative, serving two terms from 2011 to 2019, before she was elected as a senator in 2019. Her performance as a representative was well-regarded to the extent that a coalition of civil society groups and professional associations endorsed her senatorial bid.

To secure the governorship ticket for the 2023 election, Mrs Dahiru defeated former governor Jibrilla Bindow and former presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu. Although an initial legal challenge by primary opponents saw her disqualified from the race, she won subsequent legal battles and was cleared by the judiciary to contest the election.

She will now hope that the judiciary can reclaim, for her, a mandate she says was stolen.

PREMIUM TIMES