On March 20, Uba Sani, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared winner of the governorship election held in Kaduna State on March 18.

Sani polled 730,002 votes to defeat his closest rival, Isa Ashiru of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 719,196 votes.

Before becoming the governor-elect, Sani was the senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District.

The focus, however, is not Sani, but Hadiza Balarabe, his running mate.

Born on August 26, 1966, Balarabe attended Demonstration Primary School, Kagoro, and Girls College, Soba, Kaduna State, for her primary and secondary school education.

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After this, she studied medicine at the University of Maiduguri and graduated in 1986.

Her political journey started in 2018, when she was nominated as the running mate of Nasir el-Rufai in the build-up to the 2019 governorship election in Kaduna State.

SECOND FEMALE DEPUTY GOVERNOR OF KADUNA STATE

On March 9, 2019, el-Rufai was declared winner of the Kaduna State governorship election. As his running mate, Balarabe became the second female deputy governor to serve in the state, after Pamela Sadauki, who served from 1990 to 1992.

As acting governor in October 2019, she presented Kaduna State’s 2020 Budget of Renewal to the state’s house of assembly, thereby becoming the first woman to do so in northern Nigeria.

SHE’LL SERVE UNDER TWO DIFFERENT GOVERNORS

In May 2022, Balarabe reportedly expressed interest in running for the governorship position in Kaduna State.

A few days to the APC primaries however, Uba Sani, who eventually emerged as the party’s consensus candidate, announced that he had chosen the incumbent deputy governor as running mate.

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Speaking on his choice of Balarabe as running mate, Sani said he arrived at the decision after consultations with critical stakeholders in the party.

It was also never made public whether the deputy governor was coerced into giving up her governorship ambition.

The moment Sani’s tenure begins on May 29, Balarabe begins her second tenure as deputy governor under a different boss.