The lawmaker representing Kaduna North Federal Constituency in the house of representatives, Bello el-Rufai claimed that Hadiza Balarabe was Nigeria’s first elected Deputy Governor.
El-Rufai made this claim in a recent Podcast hosted by journalist Seun Okinbaloye while speaking on the achievements of his father Nasir el-Rufai.
Verification
CDD War Room combed through the Nigeria’s electoral history to find that since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, Bola Tinubu won the Lagos governorship election under the Alliance for Democracy (AD) party with Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor as his running mate.
It is also on record that Lagos has had other female deputy governors in the state. Also, states like Ekiti, Ogun, Osun, and Bayelsa had their fair share of female deputies.
In the North, however, Hadiza Balarabe was the first deputy governor.
In 1992, Sinatu Ojikutu was running mate to Micheal Otedola who was elected governor of Lagos state under the National Republic Convention (NRC)during a short civilian rule.
Verdict: Misleading
Sinatu Ojikutu is Nigeria’s first democratically elected deputy governor in Nigeria. However, Hadiza Balarabe was the first to be elected in the North.