Kano gov poll: How I contributed to stopping PDP in 2019 – Rashida Abdullahi

Rashida Adamu, a popular film producer in Kano, tells ALIYU ASKIRA in this interview how in 2019, she was part of the team that stopped PDP from winning the governorship election in the state. Adamu also reveals his governorship ambition come 2023.

Recently, you granted an interview to our vernacular newspaper, Manhaja, in which you indicated your interest to become the deputy governor of Kano state in 2023. How do you intend to realise that?

Kano, a Sharia state and the most populous state in the North, will definitely not allow a female to be governor, as such, I want to be a deputy to whoever will emerge as APC governorship candidate. But in politics, anything can happen; if the APC candidate does not pick me as his deputy, I am at liberty to go to where I will realise my ambition. I want to be a deputy governor to uplift Kano women educationally and socially; this I did when I was a special adviser to Governor Ganduje on women affairs. I am a producer, a politician, a woman leader, opinion leader and very popular figure in Kano. Whoever picks me as his deputy, I can tell you, he will win the next governorship election in Kano state.

You were quoted in several interviews as saying that whoever picks you as his deputy governor must sign an undertaking that he will do one term and allow you to do the second term. Yet, you said it on another occasion that Kano a Sharia state will not allow a woman to be its governor. How would you reconcile this?

I believe in destiny, first I will not go for governorship, and I will get a very popular politician and be his deputy. We will work hard for our government to be popular and acceptable and then after four years, I will now contest for the governorship on the ticket of the party that brought us into office. And having run a popular and successful four-year government, people will accept me as governor even though I am a woman. That is the way I am going to do it, but whatever is good for Kano people, I will not work against it.

Tell us more about the role you played in the so-called Dag gama, an gama, the controversial Gama ward result which INEC used to declare Ganduje the governor-elect in 2019.

Physically, because you were there, you saw the role our deputy governor, Alhaji Yusuf Gawuna, and commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Murtala Sule Garo, played to ensure that Ganduje was returned for a second term. I was also part of that team, but I worked behind the scene to ensure that my ward in Tarauni local government area which was among the disputed wards returned Ganduje with over whelming votes. I shared money, my own money, I used my contacts, I used all at my disposal to mobilise women so that we would not lose the re-run, and we won. I will adopt the same method in 2023 as a running mate to whoever will pick our ticket for the governorship; this is because through my NGO activities, I was opportune to visit remote areas. So, I am very popular in the villages as well as in city, I also made remarkable progress as a film producer.

If Abba Gida Gida reads this your confession, how will he feel and secondly, is it true that you and Iyan Tama had planned to get married but it did not work out?

As somebody that is very conversant with Kano politics, you will know that we are all Kwankwasiyya supporters. When Kwankwaso and Ganduje fell out, we followed Ganduje as the leader of the party in Kano, I have nothing against Engr. Abba Yusuf, we are in politics one must either win or lose, and that was what I did and we won. Secondly, about Iyan Tama, it’s not true, he is your friend and so you are in better position to answer this question better than I. About the picture I posted on the social media, and said Saura Kiris, it was about a film he asked me to act for him a long time ago and we kept the picture for memories. The day I posted the picture on social media, I was in his office, and I told him to just wait and see the dust this picture would raise and I was vindicated. People started calling me to find out the date for the marriage, it was all make belief, it never happened and I don’t think it will happen. When Iyan Tama started acting, I was a small girl, this does not mean he cannot marry me in terms of age, but we are very close and only nothing is attached to the relationship.