El-Rufai picks female running mate, settles for Muslim-Muslim ticket

Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, has picked Hadiza Balarabe as his running mate for the 2019 election.

Balarabe, a Muslim from Sanga local government area of the state, is currently the executive secretary of the state primary health care development agency.

In a statement on Friday, Samuel Aruwan, spokesman of the governor, said the choice of Balarabe as el-Rufai’s running mate is a continuation of the governor’s deliberate policy of promoting women.

He said Balarabe’s nomination would go down in the history as the first time a female would be picked as the deputy governorship candidate in the state.

“Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai has announced the selection of Dr. Hadiza Balarabe as his running mate for the 2019 general election,” the statement read.

“The choice of Dr. Hadiza Balarabe as running mate continues Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s deliberate policy of promoting women.

“There are five female commissioners in his 14-person cabinet, a feat not attained even by governors that had much larger cabinets.

“This is the first time in the history of Kaduna State that a major political party will select a woman as running mate”.

Prior to joining the Kaduna state government, Balarabe was director of public health in the federal capital territory (FCT).

She studied medicine at the University of Maiduguri, and graduated in 1988. She was a senior registrar at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital before joining the services of the FCT in 2004.

Bala Bantex, el-Rufai’s incumbent deputy, is the APC candidate for Kaduna south senatorial district.