Senator Aishatu Binani (APC Adamawa Central) has defeated the heavyweights in Adamawa State and won the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary in the state.
For the records, Binani defeated former Adamawa State Governor Jibrilla Bindow and former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to emerge as the winner of the primary election.
In the primary conducted in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, Binani scored 430 votes to beat Bindow who received 103 votes while Ribadu secured 288 votes
Incidentally, Binani was the only female in the contest for the governorship ticket of the party.
Though the primary election took place on Thursday, Binani was declared the winner on Friday morning.
With this victory, Binani will now face the incumbent governor of the state, Ahmadu Fintiri, in the 2023 governorship election in 2023.
Governor Fintiri is seeking a second term in office after clinching the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday.
Binani’s victory makes her only the second female flag bearer of the ruling party in Nigeria.
Former Minister of Women Affairs, the late Aisha Alhassan, was the first female politician in the North to contest for governorship election.
The late Alhassan was the candidate of the APC in the Taraba State governorship election in 2015 while she lost the election to incumbent Governor Ishaku Darius.
It is instructive to note that the late Alhassan challenged Darius’s victory from the Election Petitions Tribunal but the tribunal upheld the election of Governor Darius.
She later approached the Court of Appeal for redress but the appellate court ruled against her.
She finally ventilated her grievance at the Supreme Court while the apex court dismissed her case and upheld the election of Governor Darius.
