In the build up to the 2023 presidential election campaigns of the All Progressives Congress, APC, one woman that stood out as an elegant stallion, an amazon, crisscrossing the length and breadth of 19 northern states by road, and threading unbeaten paths and braving the odds of insecurity prone areas with the gospel of Asiwaju/Shettima is none other than Hajia Zainab Abubakar Ibrahim, the Deputy National Women Leader of APC and her teeming supporters.
Even before that, Hajia Zainab had displayed exceptional leadership qualities as the deputy national women leader, supporting every national women leader that came on board, and aligning herself with the overall agenda for women. She has indeed paid her dues and put in works, that are part of the success story of Asiwaju’s victory at the polls.
The success story led to the chant of victory and the victorious aura the party is carrying today. If the essence of political participation by any member of a party is the requirement that he or she contributes their all to make it victorious then Hajiya Zainab Ibrahim of the highly reputable and unbeatable political dynasty from Taraba state has paid her dues effectively and you can measure it by her contributions to the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.
She performed creditably at the APC National Working Committee from Taraba state in the North-east.
Her ability to mobilise the womenfolk and put herself on the forefront of all issues that concern women, her humane disposition, intimidating political background and academic resume, and her zeal to serve humanity are second to none.This can be attributed to the lessons she learnt from her father that the essence of our existence is to serve as an instrument of peace and provident to the less privileged among us. No wonder, looking closely at her political philosophy one would reach a conclusion that she is one that is more familiar with compassion intensively even though the world of politics today is more familiar with self than with compassion.
In the entire North-east, only men have been hitherto shortlisted for ministerial positions, and despite her impactful grassroots oriented work, she has not been pencilled for consideration before now.
This has been attributed this to the absence of a reward system that has hitherto been absent from our political parties prior to the advent of the Tinubu administration. But many are confident that the renewed hope dispensation of this administration would hopefully introduce systematically and pragmatically a reward system that would locate her for an appointment, considering her contributions to the party. This is very important because members of her party are already complaining about the absence of a reward system and the time to introduce it is now to boost the morale of the APC members.
Zainab Ibrahim is eminently qualified to occupy any position, according to analysts, who have followed her trajectories since she came into political reckoning. Many are confident that she would excel even in the executive arm of government as a Minister of the Federal Republic. We trust the judgement of our workaholic president that he would do the needful at the right time and this confidence of many is because of the trust they have in his capacity to carry everybody along in his leadership recruitment process that would surely sooner than later locate this Amazon called Hajia Zainab Ibrahim.
Today, to the glory of God, she is the founder of the Aunty Zee Foundation that is attending to the needs of the less privileged and giving back to the society what it has given to her. This foundation has helped to invigorating her leitmotives to serve her country better. What is lacking in our country today are men and women who would deny themselves the comfort of life by contributing their quota to the enhancement of our common humanity.
Her foundation is without borders, distributing the common needs of the citizens to all parts of the country. Hajia Zainab Ibrahim has never been an arms chair politician because she sees politics as a vehicle for service to humanity.
If President Tinubu is desirous of fulfilling the aims of the Renewed Hope Agenda, then Zainab Ibrahim is fit and one of the perfect persons to serve in his administration. This is because she can contribute immensely and most effectively to the administration’s quest to renew the hope of all her citizens that presently are despondent because of the inability of the past governments in the country to leave a legacy that rekindles the hopes of the generality of her citizens.
Many would ask, what difference would she make in the renewed hope administration of President Tinubu? The answer to this question are many because we are talking of a woman who has paid her dues and so can be described as one of the very few women in politics that has been tried and tested. Zainab Ibrahim is a round peg in a round hole who does not do wishful thinking politics. She would bring into this administration an action full political and administrative dispensation that would implement the mandate of Mr President in any ministry she is called upon to oversee.
Her policies would be devoid of the wishful and hurriedly pronounced policies of many of our politicians. She would put in place policies that are based on data and evidence and would contribute to the lives of the citizens, irrespective of their status and political affiliations. Zainab Ibrahim as an administrator is one that has a servant leader mentality and this can be seen from her activities in many of the places she has served. She always would be the first to come to the office and the last to leave if that would help her attend to all the issues and programmes that needed her attention.
Nigeria today really needs men and women that would rise to the occasion of leadership by providing the basic needs the citizenry requires at this point in our national life. If a leader is described as a dealer in hope then it is surprising that Zainab Ibrahim is not serving in the executive arm of government today because her politics deals in hope.The president is expected to quickly rise to the occasion by doing the needful in appointing her into the Federal Executive Council of the Federation because she is fit and able to deliver on the promises of this renewed hope administration and this assurance is one that can be taken to the bank.
Musa Wada is a public affairs analyst based in Abuja
