…Governor of the defunct Gongola State, Group Captain Jonah David Jang, had appointed Mrs. Zainab Isa Ahmed, elder sister of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as the Sole Administrator of Fufore Local Government Area…
…There’s no single politician in Adamawa State, as of today, who is as popular and admired by the electorates as the Gimbiya Adamawa; even members of the opposition have been professing their admiration for her Binani’s qualities and publicly say they will vote for her in 2023…
By Aminu Iyawa
As the campaigns for 2023 elections reach a crescendo, so are the machinations by candidates who are now going to the extreme to tear their opponents apart.
Nothing, it seems, is off the table for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State, which senses defeat from the favourite and formidable All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani, whose admirers and followers cut across party lines.
The local ruling party has just deployed its trump card, using some Islamic preachers to whip sentiment on Muslims to “shun voting for a woman” as their Governor.
Since the reinstatement of Sen. Binani as the duly elected governorship candidate of the APC for the 2023 election, the powers at J1 Dougirei Hill, have been restless and went into campaign overdrive mode.
However, let us delve inqto the controversial issue and ask: can a woman be a leader according to Islam?
Imam Malik, the founder of the Maliki school of Islamic Fiqh (jurisprudence), which Northern Nigeria adopted, is reported to have opined that a woman can become head of the state in all its affairs (Choudhury 1997:147).
My research showed that, just like on many issues that lead to agreement or slight disagreement (but remain permissible) by most recognised great Islamic Jurors like Maliki, Shafi’i, Hanafi and Hambali, the subject of women in leadership is also permissible except for leading the prayer and commanding the army.
This, of course, is largely due to the physical differences between men and women. Women do not lead the prayer just like it is recommended; they remain behind the men’s rows inside the Mosque to avoid distracting the men by their physique when they prostrate. They do not lead the army also because men are stronger. Both points have nothing to do with their ability to lead.
In the Qur’an, Surat al-Nisa, the fourth chapter, ayat 34 says: “Men are guardians over women by what Allah has favoured some over others and by what they spend on their wealth.”
الرِّجَالُ قَوَّامُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ بِمَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ وَبِمَا أَنفَقُوا مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ
Al-Qurthubi in his tafsir, translates: “the ‘favour’ of men over women refers to the physical strength of men, which is on everage much greater than women and which enables men to better perform hard physical labour and military duties.”
This is not only a fact and a pointer to the effect that it is permissible for women to lead, but we should also remember the example whereby Nana Khadija (RA) was the Prophet’s boss in her merchandise company. She was the head, sitting in the headquarters in Makkah, while the Managing Director, our beloved Rasul, traversed the desert and mountains between Hijaz and Palestine and the lands in-between, with the caravan of goods distributing and selling merchandise to clients.
In Nigeria, where the Muslims have by circumstances of the 1901 and the 1914 Amalgamtion, agreed to live in peace and harmony with their non-muslim co-inhabitants
and have also recognised and agreed to abide by the Constitution, which guarantees equality, the question of a woman becoming a Governor or President should not even arise.
Muslims in this country have found themselves in a position where the ‘Darurat’ (a term in Figh that means because you cannot avoid it by choice, it is permissible) applies here.
Nigeria is officially a secular state, though civil sharia law is allowed, supported in the constitution and practiced in the Northern states up to the Appeals Court level presided by a Grand Kadi and by Kadis in the lower courts.
The Sharia Courts entertain only civil suits and leave out the criminal aspect to the Magistrates and other courts of jurisdiction that administer the penal code laws recognised by the Constitution. In other words, the Muslims have, because of the Darurat of having, adopted the secular administrative system, are bound also by the penal code and cannot enforce sharia criminal law.
The point here is that our secular system is recognised by the Muslim majority citizens and have been abiding by it – a hard fact that is not debatable. Also, Adamawa is a secular state that recognises citizens rights, men and women, to run for any electable office as provided for in the constitution.
There is therefore no need of debating the issue of whether a Muslim woman can lead the state or not. Besides, the jinx of women leading the community in Adamawa had been shuttered in 1986, when the then Governor of the defunct Gongola State, Group Captain Jonah David Jang, had appointed Mrs. Zainab Isa Ahmed, elder sister of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as the Sole Administrator of Fufore Local Government Area.
It is therefore hypocritical and cheap political blackmail for anyone to raise eyebrows now on the issue of Muslim women in leadership, while they fully well know that we are a secular society in a secular country and governed by secular laws and constitution that has been recognised by the people, including the right for women to seek for public office and be voted for.
In any case, just like there are good men, there are also good women who are even more compassionate, when it comes to caring for others – and leadership is all about caring. In this case, Sen. Binani’s record as Member of the Federal House of Representatives and the Senator of the Federal Republic is there for all to see.
I have pointed out in my previous write ups and still stand by it, without any exaggeration, no single politician in Adamawa State as at today, is as popular or admired by the people than the Gimbiya Adamawa. Even members of the opposition have been professing their admiration for her leadership qualities and publicly say they will vote for her in 2023.
Women, as mothers, have larger hearts for empathy and a bigger stake in protecting their names, character and family, than men who are careless in nature.
It is also time for the international community, through their envoys here in Nigeria, to add their voices in warning politicians to avoid gender profiling of women candidates and inciting religious Mullahs to campaign against them. Such politicians should be treated in the same category as those who promote hate speech and political thuggery.