Binani

BY KEHINDÉ FAGBULE

Although the 2023 elections may have come and gone, the bitter pill it left in the mouth of Nigerians lingers. With very few headlines bringing solace to grieving Nigerians mourning the death of democracy as we know it, the news of renowned Senator Aishatu Dahiru, widely referred to as Binani’s emergence as the elected governor of Adamawa State, provided a muchneeded boost. Binani’s win makes her Nigeria’s first elected female governor, an announcement that couldn’t have found a better timing than last week’s mothering Sunday. Representing the All Progressives Congress, Binani’s hard-fought historical win came at the expense of the incumbent, Governor Ahmadu Fintri of the PDP, but it doesn’t come as a shock.

Born on the 11th of August 1971, Binani represented Adamawa Central senatorial district in the 9th Assembly. She was formerly a member of the House of Representatives for the Yola North/Yola South/ Girei federal constituency as a member of the People’s Democratic Party in the 7th Assembly between 2011 and 2015. In 2021 an appeal court sitting in Yola declared her as the APC governorship candidate in Adamawa. She had defeated several influential male politicians, including former presidential candidate and pioneer executive chairman of the EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, during the party’s governorship primaries. The Higher National Diploma holder in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southampton, UK, is currently the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Binani’s victory comes at a time when the country experienced its lowest female political representation since the 1999 General elections, her first-ever election of the 4th Republic.