Aishatu Binani wins APC governorship primaries in Adamawa, beats Ribadu, ex-governor
A female aspirant, Senator Aishatu Binani on Friday emerged as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa State.
She trounced former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, former governor of the state, Jibrilla Bindow and three others to clinch the ticket.
Gambo Lawan, Chairman of the APC Adamawa State Electoral Committee, announced the result.
According to Lawan, Binani scored 430 votes to defeat Ribadu, who got 288 votes. Bindow scored 103 votes, a House of Representatives member, Abdulrazak Namdas polled 94 votes, Wafari Theman, 21 votes and Umar Mustapha, 39 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 flagbearer in Taraba State in 2015. She, however, lost to Governor Darius Ishaku.
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.
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.
