The trio of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president-elect; Senator George Akume and Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, have a few things in common. They have all been former governors, they were all governors from 1999, at the start of the democratic dispensation, in Lagos, Benue and Yobe States respectively. They have all been Senators – Tinubu during the brief Third Republic; Akume between 2011 to 2015 and Ibrahim between 2007 and 2015. One last thing they all have in common is all trio putting their wives in the national assembly as lawmakers. While Tinubu’s wife, Remi, is a serving Senator and has been for three terms, one of the more cerebral wives of Ibrahim, Khadija is a current member of the Federal House of Representatives. She was first elected in 2007, re-elected in 2011 and 2015. In 2019 after resigning her appointment as the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, she returned to the house for a fourth term. Following in the footsteps of his former colleagues, Akume who is the current minister of special duties and intergovernmental affairs, ensured that his wife, Regina got elected to the House of Representative in the just concluded National Assembly elections on the platform of All Progressives Congress. Regina dislodged the incumbent, John Dyeh of the Peoples Democratic Party by a wide margin. She will be representing the people of Tarka/Gboko federal constituency. Hopefully, she ends up not becoming just another number but one whose inputs in bills that will affect lives positively, will be felt.
Ivory Ukonu is a versatile journalist with many years of experience, with entertainment and society reporting as her area of core competence.
