Senator Aishatu Binani has emerged as the winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary poll in Adamawa State. She beat five other contenders, all men, to clinch the ticket.
The Chairman of the APC Adamawa State Electoral Committee, Gambo Lawal, announced the result on Friday.
According to the Presiding Officer for the poll, she scored 430 votes to defeat her closest rival and a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, who got 288 votes.
Other contestants in the race were the immediate past governor of the state, Jibrilla Bindow; a House of Representatives member, Abdulrazak Namdas; Wafari Theman, and Umar Mustapha.
The former governor came third with 103 votes. A further breakdown of the result showed that Namdas had 94 votes, Theman 21 votes, and Umar Mustapha scored 39 votes. The exercise recorded 36 invalid votes.
The primary, which took place at the Lamido Cinema in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, started at about 5:00 pm on Thursday with the accreditation of delegates. But voting started at midnight and lasted till Friday morning before sorting and counting began.
Friday’s victory makes the Senator, who represents Adamawa Central in the upper lawmaking body, the first female governorship aspirant of a major political party in the state. The feat also makes her the second female flag bearer of a major party in Nigeria.
The other person to have achieved that feat was the late former Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan, who became the APC governorship flag bearer in Taraba State in 2015. She, however, lost to Governor Darius Ishaku.
While she challenged Ishaku’s victory up to the Supreme Court, the former minister lost the case.
Senator Binani’s win is a major upset and a plus for the womenfolk in the country. She will be aiming to become the first elected female governor in Nigeria’s history. So far, Binani is the first woman to fly the flag of a major political party in the forthcoming election.
In her speech after the victory, the 50-year-old commended the committee for the successful conduct of the primary and promised to work with those who contested with her.
Some of the agents equally lauded the election committee for the peaceful conduct of the exercise. The other contestants also accepted the result and pledged to work together to ensure the APC wins the governorship poll next year.
Minutes after the declaration of the results, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the leader of the APC in Adamawa, Boss Mustapha, arrived at the venue of the event. He applauded the APC for conducting a free, fair, and transparent primary.
Below is the breakdown of the result:
Binani Aisha – 430
Nuhu Ribadu – 288
Bindow – 103.
Wafari – 21
Namdas – 94
Otumba – 39
Number of accredited voters – 1009
Number of valid votes cast – 975
Number of invalid votes – 36
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