Rukayat Shittu, a 26-year-old lady, has been elected as a lawmaker in the Kwara State House of Assembly. Shittu was declared winner of the Kwara State House of Assembly election, representing Owode/Onire Constituency in Kwara State on the platform of the All Progressive Congress, APC, the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Returning officer, Prof Hakeem Ijaya, revealed that Shittu polled 7,521 votes to beat her Peoples Democratic Party rival who polled 6,957 votes.
Providence indeed has smiled on Shittu who is now the youngest lawmaker in Kwara State Assembly. She had the privilege of contesting because the Governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq passed a bill in 2021 which stipulated that any local Government with two constituencies is mandated to have one man and one woman as its representative.
Despite the fact that the governor’s bill favoured her, the price of the nomination form had to be slashed from N1million to N500, 000 before she could jump on board. Having groomed herself through participations in different political organizations and holding political posts, from being the first female Senate President for the Congress of the National Open University which covers over 85 study campuses a few years ago, representing her study centre at the national level and also being a member of a pro-democracy group, Kwara Must Change, the girl’s child right advocate has taken her political career to the next level as the youngest member of the Kwara State House of Assembly.
