Sarumi-Aliyu declares for Oyo governorship election

Oyo State may get its first female governor come 2019 as Bolanle Sarumi Aliyu has formally declared her interest to run for the top seat in the state in next year’s general elections.

Declaring at a service held for those who lost their lives in the struggle for democracy organised by the Bolanle Aminat Sarumi-Aliyu (BASA) Foundation, at the Sultan Bello Hall University of Ibadan, Oyo State on June 12, Sarumi-Aliyu revealed that she is the first female governorship aspirant in Oyo State and it was only fitting that she made the declaration on the newly declared day for celebrating the nation’s democracy.

Speaking with The Guardian, she stated that she is “seeking to overturn the political landscape and give life to gender balance in Nigeria’s political space.” Sarumi-Aliyu said she is ready to set the pace that will invigorate the Nigerian woman with a change of mindset that women taking the back seat in politics has come to an end. 

According to her, “Women of great vision and capacity from all over the world and indeed Africa have realized and have begun to take their rightful place as leaders. In Rwanda, my sisters and mothers currently occupy about 64 per cent of the country’s parliament. I am therefore setting myself as a pace setter in the ‘pace setting state’, Oyo State.”

She said her vision to govern Oyo is not just a mere aspiration to have a woman in the highest office in the state but a call to serve the people the right way.She went on to ask for the full support of all and sundry to help her deliver a better Oyo State, adding that the full and equitable participation of Nigerian women in public life is essential in building and sustaining a strong and vibrant democracy. “Nigerian women’s participation in politics will advance gender equality, girl child education and other issues bedeviling the Nigerian female child,” she concluded.