Islamic clerics in Katsina State’s Mani and Bindawa local government areas have advised locals not to support All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Jamilu Abdu-Mani in the 2027 House of Representatives election.
At a conference when the incumbent member, Ahmad Yusuf, and other candidates were defeated, Mrs. Abdu-Mani, the governor’s current special adviser on girl child education and child development, emerged as the consensus candidate for the Mani/Bindawa Federal seat.
Her emergence had come after the other candidates challenged the adoption of Ahmad Saleh, who had been selected in the first place, and stakeholders were forced to convene and reconsider the process which eventually led to Mrs. Abdu-Mani Jamilu.
However, ENigeria Newspaper has learnt that report indicated that two Islamic clergymen in the state have urged voters not to support Mrs. Abdu-Mani, expressing dismay at her rise to power.
“We have heard rumour that a party has opted for a woman as its flagbearer in the next election. We are respectfully calling on the chairman of Bindawa local government and other stakeholders to challenge this decision, even if it will cost them their positions, because the Prophet said any society that appoints a woman as a leader is doomed,’ Usman Salisu, a cleric was quoted to have said in his Jumu’at sermon last Friday.
Another cleric named Abu Abdullah vented this disapproval against it. He said, ‘As always, when there is an issue like this, we always have a way of settling it. The Prophet, in an authentic Hadith, cautioned us against handing leadership affairs to women. Why do we, people of this constituency, want to deviate from our religious teachings? It’s against our teachings.”
In Katsina State, women have held appointive positions over the years, but they have struggled to win elections since the major parties are hesitant to nominate them for general elections.
