Nigeria has struggled with women’s political representation for years, and the recently concluded 2023 general elections show this isn’t changing soon.
With the results of the National Assembly elections held on February 25, 2023, we will see fewer women in the Senate, as only three women were elected against the eight in the 9th Assembly.
In this article, we will tell you about the three female senators-elect of the 10th Senate.
Oluranti Adebule, All Progressives Congress
Oluranti Adebule is someone many of us might remember as the deputy governor of Lagos State from 2015 to 2019, who was responsible for reviewing the Lagos State Education Policy Document. She was born on November 27, 1970, and studied Islamic Education at Lagos State University in 1992.
She started politics in 2000 when she was appointed Commissioner 1 in the Lagos state Post Primary Teaching Service Commission (PP-TESCOM), now called the Teachers’ Establishment and Pensions Office.
She also served as the Secretary to the State Government in 2011 under the former Lagos state governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola.
Ireti Kingibe, Labour Party
Ireti Kingibe, born June 2, 1954, comes from a multicultural family as she has Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo roots. She studied Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota and started her career as a Quality Control Engineer at Bradley Precast Concrete Inc. in 1978.
She returned to Nigeria in 1981 for the mandatory one-year national service, after which she worked as a Project Supervisor with the Nigerian Air Force till 1982.
Ireti joined politics in 1990 under the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and was appointed Adviser to the party’s national chairman. In 2003, she defected from the SDP and contested for the FCT’s senatorial seat under the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP). Her election bid wasn’t successful, and she defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2006.
She left the PDP and joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015 to contest for the FCT senatorial seat. She eventually withdrew from the election and defected to the Labour Party in 2022, where she finally emerged victorious in her senatorial bid.
Ipalibo Banigo, Peoples Democratic Party
Ipalibo Banigo is a medical doctor and the first female Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Born December 20, 1952, this woman has left her mark in Rivers state politics. She started in 1995 when she was appointed Secretary to the Rivers state Government. She served in this capacity for four years until 1999.
After her time in government, she was appointed Public Health Adviser of the Shell Petroleum Development Company in Nigeria. She was also the executive director and Secretary of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency.
In 2015, she was the running mate of Nyesom Wike for the governorship elections, and she’s currently serving as the deputy governor of Rivers State.
These women are just as qualified as their male counterparts, and hopefully, their presence and performance at the Senate will open up more opportunities for women in politics.
