Aisha Binani, the First Elected Female Governor in Nigeria that Never Was-UN Affirmative Action, Gender and the Leadership Question in Nigeria

In February 2023, the Nigerian political sphere found itself at the threshold of history when Aishah Binani was announced by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of Adamawa State as the duly elected governor of the state. The announcement, which was later annulled, was celebrated across the nation not only because Aishah would have become the first elected female executive governor in contemporary Nigerian history, but also as a trailblazer in the extremely traditional/patriarchal setting of northern Nigeria. In exploring the intrigues, the gender politics, and the high octane politics that surrounded the cancellation of that result, this paper investigates the roles played by women’s groups, the pro-gender elements within the ruling party (the All Progressive Congress), the contradictions in the application of the Electoral law that first led to her announcement as the duly elected governor and the eventual cancellation of the result. The paper discusses the implications of the above incident in relation to the UN’s Affirmative Action as well as leadership practices in Nigeria. The paper deploys the descriptive method and sources its theoretical scales from available literatures in the field. Exactly what lessons are there to be learnt by women in general from the experience of Aishah Binani in their quest to reinvent leadership practices in Nigeria? What else can women do in order to effect positive change in the leadership structure in Africa as a whole?

Keywords: Gender, Leadership, UN Affirmative Action, Nigeria.