>
Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, has called on leaders from the North to learn from the exemplary practice of their South West counterparts in enthroning women as deputy governors.
She said this while reacting to the crisis rocking Adamawa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Crisis erupted in Adamawa APC after the party’s governorship primary won by Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani, which was rejected by one of the aspirants, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
Ribadu subsequently went to court to seek redress.
A Federal High Court had in September voided the primary and declared that the party had no governorship candidate in the state, prompting the APC and Binani to approach the Court of Appeal.
An Appeal Court sitting in Yola, on Thursday, November 24, set aside the judgement of the lower court and declared Binani as the APC governorship candidate in Adamawa State.
The issue has since divided the party between members supporting Binani and those supporting Ribadu.
Weighing in on the matter in an Instagram post on Tuesday, the First Lady wrote: “In the name of Allah, I wish to thank Adamawa State APC Leaders for the courtesy visit they paid on me, on November 18, 2022.
“As an indigene of the State, a Mother, a Grand Mother and the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I would like to reaffirm my support for the genuine concern of our party leaders, as well as COMMIT TO STEPPING INTO THE PROBLEM so that reason and common sense will prevail in Adamawa politics.
“I would again like to repeat my appeal to respected leaders in the North to learn from the exemplary practice of their South West counterparts in enthroning women as Deputy Governors in states as a gradual approach to obtaining gender inclusion in our polity.
“This is a most realistic step in our efforts at attaining gender justice instead of supporting the pursuit of the misplaced ambition of an individual do-or-die politician.”