When the Presidential Campaign Council of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, was set up, those behind the composition of its membership did not make a mistake by the inclusion of the incumbent Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu.
It was a right choice because Ramatu is a solid grassroots mobilisation bulldozer.
She hit the ground running and the movers of happenings in APC can close their two eyes and go to sleep as it pertains to the party’s mobilisation in the FCT.
Ramatu is reputed to putting her heart and soul in anything she is made to lead.
Even when some notable national figures in the party doubted the emergence of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, BAT, as the presidential candidate for the February 25 election, she stood by him and did what “men” in politics could not do, despite the fact that she is just a woman.
She stuck her neck and put her everything she had to ensure Jagaban got the ticket.
She braced the odds and did not mind the name calling and stood with Tinubu right from the onset.
To show her unalloyed commitment to the cause, she left her sick mother in the hospital all because of her faith in the cause of BAT.
And since Tinubu clinched the ticket, she has not relented in her quest to ensure the acceptability of BAT in all the nooks and crannies of the FCT.
She has put on her time, resources and all and she is neither tired nor wary about the genuineness of the BAT presidency.
There is hardly any of the 62 wards that constitute the FCT senatorial district that her imprint is not recorded. Check the street lights poles and you will see banners of Asiwaju and his running mate, Kashim Shettima, adorning the streets of Abuja.
She is always bubbling as her house has become a Mecca of sorts to political juggernauts and the masses in the FCT. She has laid her hands on the Jagaban train and no looking back.
But then, who is Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu.
Ramatu is the Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory, FCT. The founder of the Global Women and Youths Strategy, a non governmental organisation, NGO. She is a philanthropist par excellence.
Ramatu, who holds the revered traditional title of Onyize of Ebiraland, is a dealer in hope. She sees leadership as the capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence. She is one of those few humanitarians of the 21st Century whose core interest is to raise future giants from the gutters of their community into global entity via empowerment and other available opportunities.
The minister is a young woman in a hurry but resolute to write her own copy of history. Ramatu bowed to the overpowering zeal to serve humanity. Her strength of character and no nonsense reputation for getting results has made her a champion today.
In her doggedness, this passionate political princess of Kogi state has proven that success is no respecter of gender but only favours hard work, tenacity and purpose.
She has weathered the political waters and is still in good standing. She has paid her dues, or will it be more appropriate to say she is paying her dues on the political turf.
Ramatu is a native of Budon, a suburb of Lokoja, the Kogi state capital. She can conveniently say she has and is manoeuvring through the corridors of power in Kogi state and the FCT.
She was the managing director of Azah Intermediaries Nigeria Limited. Ramatu was also special adviser to the then chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council in the FCT.
She has been active on both the international and national scenes. She emerged as national vice chairman North Central zone, national women leader, both of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP. Ramatu was the first female president of the Council of African Political Parties (CAPP) a 56-country members pan-African body.
When the time came for the political merger of the legacy parties in 2014, Ramatu again emerged as the national women leader of the APC, which made history as the first opposition party in Nigeria to defeat an incumbent in the 2015 elections.
Thereafter fortune smiled on her and in 2019, Ramatu was named a Minister of the Federal Republic.
She has received awards in so many fields of human endeavour in appreciation of her efforts in mobilising and bringing women into main stream political arena.
Success is not accidental, neither is it served a la carte; you have to go for it. Whether you are a man or woman, young or old, the only thing that separates leaders from others, winners from losers, is their dedication and perseverance in bringing true change into anything they do.
Ramatu has left her mark in all the positions she has held so far; to say that she is an achiever is an understatement.
She is the Sarauniyab Abuja and Mama Palliative, as she is popularly called.
Ramatu is also the Zinariya of Lokoja, who is a Ph.D holder in security and strategic studies, hoping to bring all the might of the security approach and apparatus to bear, of which time shall soon unveil.
Indeed, with a new dawn on the horizon beckoning, Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu will be leaving an indelible footprint on the sand of time as an irrepressible Amazon of change and an astute administrator.
Welcome the political bulldozer of grassroots politics in the FCT.
Abdul writes from Abuja via [email protected]
