Many Nigerians took an unusual interest in the last governorship election in Adamawa State mainly for symbolic reasons. History was beckoning. There was a high probability that Nigeria’s first elected female governor would come from the state. Of the 25 women that contested for governorship posts in 28 states in the 2023 general election, only Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed (popularly known as Senator Binani) ran on the platform of a major political party. And she was the only one who posed a credible threat of not just winning but also of unseating an incumbent governor.
This likelihood forced many Nigerians to pay attention to the politics of the state known as the ‘Land of Beauty’. That such a probability loomed from a very conservative northern state added some extra sensation. During the main and the supplementary elections in the state, the camp of keen watchers of the Adamawa election swelled beyond residents and the usual political junkies to newshounds, history students and gender advocates. This expanded camp included those who cannot locate Adamawa on a giant map, who do not care a hoof about the potential history-maker, and who cannot stand her party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
However, before interrogating the Binani phenomenon, I want to underscore the fact that Adamawa State has an important lesson in political accommodation for the rest of the country. I will highlight two other cases, and both are about women, (as is the case with Binani who incidentally defeated six men to clinch the APC gubernatorial ticket—including Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, former Chairman of EFCC and 2011 presidential candidate of ACN and Senator Jibrilla Bindow, governor of Adamawa State between 2015 and 2019.)
The first case is the election of Senator Grace Folashade Bent to represent Adamawa South Senatorial District between 2007 and 2011. Made up of nine local government areas, Adamawa South is the largest senatorial district in the state in terms of landmass and population. But the real story here is that Senator Bent nee Makinwa is Yoruba (specifically an Ijesha woman from present Osun State) married to a Bachama man, Mr. Jackson Bent.) Yes, Senator Bent lost her re-election in 2011 and has unsuccessfully tried to stage a comeback, but the fact that a woman could be elected to represent her husband’s senatorial district is still a rarity in Nigeria. In fact, for women it is usually a double jeopardy as they are hardly accepted in their home constituencies too in case such are not the same as their husbands’. But look at what the people of Adamawa South did in 2007: a Yoruba woman elected to represent one of the senatorial districts of the north east state.
The second case is that of the then Hon. Binta Masi Garba. She was born and raised in Kaduna though her parents were from Michika, Adamawa State. In 1999, she was elected to represent Kaduna South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. She went on to serve two terms. Then in 2007, she returned home to contest for the Madagali/Michika Federal Constituency in Adamawa State, and she won.
In 2015, she upped the ante. She ran to represent the Adamawa North District in the Senate. Again, she won, and was the only female senator from the 19 northern states in the 8th National Assembly. Senator Garba happens to be the first legislator to represent two federal constituencies, from two different states located in two separate geo-political zones. It is worth emphasising too that she is a woman.
Incidentally, the three women mentioned here have at different times represented the three senatorial districts of Adamawa State in the National Assembly: Bent, Adamawa South, 2007 to 2011; Garba, Adamawa North, 2015 to 2019; Binani, Adamawa Central, 2019 to 2023. There is something that Adamawa State is telling the rest of the country.
This is not to say that Adamawa is a shining model of gender equity or adequate political representation for women. Far from it. There is a lot of work to be done within Adamawa itself to increase the voice and agency of women. The odyssey of the three women mentioned here is by no means representative, even for the state. But their stories also show how far ahead Adamawa is when compared to other states. Beyond symbolism and tokenism, that ‘far-north’ state has an important message about accommodation, labels, and assumptions for the whole of Nigeria. We should pay attention. Now back to Binani. After some high-octane drama, including some post-April 15 reprehensible episodes, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the final result of the Adamawa governorship election on Tuesday. INEC returned Alhaji Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri as the governor of Adamawa State with 430,861 votes compared to Senator Binani’s 398,738 votes. With this result, Governor Fintiri snapped 50.46% and Senator Binani secured 46.70% of the valid votes cast in the election.
While awaiting the outcome of the investigations into the role of INEC, security and state officials (and even Binani herself) in the dark episodes of the election and without prejudice to the expected contestations at the election tribunal, I will submit that Senator Binani has already made history. She fell short, no doubt. But she was just inches away from the prize. It is no mean feat for someone running for a position for the first time to secure 47% of the valid votes. Especially so when such a candidate ran against an incumbent and is a female. Then, there is an additional wrinkle: Senator Binani achieved this unusual feat almost all by herself, and while battling powerful political forces within and outside her state, and outside and within her own party.
To start with, Adamawa is the home state of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 25th February presidential election. Atiku expectedly enjoyed the homeboy advantage in Adamawa in the presidential poll, netting 417,611 votes and securing a margin of more than 200,000 votes over Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. No matter his alleged misgivings about and issues with his state governor, Atiku definitely has more than a symbolic reason to keep Adamawa under the PDP umbrella. It is also conceivable that Fintiri, the incumbent governor, would leverage every instrument of state, fair and foul, to ensure that he is re-elected.
But Atiku and Fintiri were not the only forces that Binani had to battle in the gubernatorial contest on March 18 and April 15. Her own party basically let her hang out to dry. Yes, President Muhammadu Buhari was in Adamawa on 9th January 2023 to campaign for both Tinubu and Binani. And yes, President Buhari raised up Binani’s hand and urged the state to elect Nigeria’s first female governor. However, it is doubtful that the first lady, who is from Adamawa, supported Binani. It is an open secret that the northern APC governors did not enthusiastically rally behind her, that the Northeast leaders of APC gave her cold shoulders, and that some APC bigwigs in Adamawa (especially a prominent person that she defeated in the primaries) openly worked with her opponent and some are even gloating about it.
Given how powerful forces from within and without undermined her, and how traditional and religious institutions were dragged into the fray, Binani actually put up a stellar shift. She should take her performance as a win by itself. To be sure, there is no silver medal in our brand of electoral politics. But some performances offer a window into future pathways and serve as inspiration for others. However, this is not to say that Binani should not approach the tribunal to seek redress if she thinks she is the rightful winner of the election. She should.
(By the way, the only other woman who came close to shattering the glass ceiling as elected governor was late Senator Aisha Alhassan who contested against Arc. Ishaku Darius for the governorship of neighbouring Taraba State in 2015—by the way, both states used to be one as Gongola State between 1976 and 1991. The first governors election in Taraba in 2015 was also inconclusive. After the supplementary election, INEC declared Darius the winner with 369,318 votes against Alhassan’s 275,984 votes—a victory margin of 93, 334 votes. However, Alhassan—popularly known as Mama Taraba—was declared the winner at the tribunal, though the decision was not upheld on appeal.)
One of the ill-digested things that have been said about the Adamawa election is that Binani didn’t make the cut because of her gender. That’s not right. Being a female didn’t stop Binani from getting elected as a member of the House of Representative between 2011 and 2015, from becoming a senator in 2019 and from snapping 47% of the votes in the just-concluded governorship election. Beyond the calm and soft exterior, she is a steely politician. She is also well-resourced and is blessed with ardent supporters and fervent opponents.
Even when our politicians will cynically mobilise any identity marker available to them, the truth is that Binani was not pushed aside because of her gender. In response to a chauvinistic campaign by her opponents, some of her male supporters started dressing like women to show they had no problem with giving a woman the number one position in the state. And that state, by the way, is the one where the Fulani identity and language (Fulfulde) are deeply entrenched, perhaps more than in most other northern states. It cannot get more conservative than that.
Being conservative and accommodating are not necessarily at odds. No matter how we define ourselves or how we are defined by others, the real test is how we handle inclusion. This is one key moral from Adamawa, as illustrated by the enchanting political odysseys of Binani, Garba and Bent. It is a legacy that Adamawa needs to sustain, and an important lesson that the rest of Nigeria must imbibe.
THISDAY
