Nigerians might witness the swearing in of the first elected female governor in Nigeria as history indicates Senator Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan as the next in line.
Born on September 16, 1959,
Senator Aisha Al-Hassan, 56, is a Nigerian politician who was elected Senator
for the Taraba North constituency of Taraba state, in the April 2011 federal
elections when she ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
However, she defected from
the ruling party for the APC for whom she clinched the Taraba state
governorship ticket at the APC primaries in the state with a landslide victory
of 2425 votes, with other candidates Ibrahim Tumba, Dr Julde S & Yusuf
polling 18, 5, and 14 votes respectively.
This victory saw Senator
Alhassan become the first female to clinch the governorship ticket on the
platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Taraba state.
The success story of
Senator Alhassan has been nothing but exceptional as in the January 2011 PDP
primaries she defeated the incumbent Senator, former Ambassador Manzo Anthony.
It was said that she was a protégé of former Governor Jolly Nyame, who wanted
her to defeat Manzo, thinking he could then defeat her. However, after winning
the primaries Jummai ran an energetic election campaign, managing to gain
Christian support despite the fact that she herself was a Muslim.
Soon enough, her hard-work
paid off greatly when in the April 9, 2011 elections, Jummai won 114,131 votes,
followed by Jolly Nyame of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), now All
Progressives Congress (APC), with 92,004 votes. She was one of four women
elected on the PDP ticket, the others being Nkechi Nwaogu of Abia Central,
Helen Esuene from Akwa Ibom South and Nenadi Usman from the Kaduna South
senatorial constituency.
However, Senator Alhassan
looks to be running a stronger race this year as she faces a grim test in her
quest to make history. She will square up against former minister of state for
Niger Delta affairs, Darius Ishaku of the PDP, and David Kente of the Social
Democratic Party (SDP), a retired director of finance from the National
Assembly, in the governorship poll.
If she ends up winning come
April 11, Senator Alhassan will be the first ever elected female governor of
Nigeria.
A Senator Alhassan victory
will however not see her become the first female governor in Nigeria but the
first elected female governor of Nigeria.
Why? Because on November 3,
2006, Dame Virgy Etiaba, was sworn in as the Governor of Anambra state, making
her the first female Governor in Nigeria following the impeachment of Governor
Peter Gregory Obi.
However, a victory for
Senator Alhassan will supersede Dame Etiaba’s record.
Senator Aisha Alhassan’s
success also caught the attention of the APC presidential candidate, General
Muhammadu Buhari who earlier this month urged Taraba state natives to support
the APC governorship candidate in the state.
Buhari made the remarks in
a series of tweets on his official Twitter page to commemorate the
International Women’s Day marked across the world on Sunday, March 9.
hope she wins, be nice to have a woman governor
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