Senator Binta Garba @ 53: The Original Arewa Girl

By Chuks Ekpeneru

For Senator Binta Masi Garba, the immediate past senator for Adamawa North Senatorial District, her nickname of Iron Lady did not come for nothing. She won acclaim when she became the first federal legislator in the Fourth Republic to win elections across three different constituencies.

She was elected to the House of Representatives to represent Kaduna South where she grew up at the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999 and in 2003. She subsequently migrated to represent her home in Adamawa where she represented the Michika/Magdali Federal Constituency between 2011 and 2015 before berthing in the Senate as the second female senator from Adamawa State.

Binta Masi Garba is a philanthropist, businesswoman, administrator and a Christian evangelist.

She was elected as the first Vice President of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) under the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) in Cameroon. She was the only female Senator-Elect in all the 19 Northern States of Nigeria in the 2015 elections. She was also, the only female delegate from Adamawa State to the National Conference in Abuja.

She holds two Diplomas in Theology from the Bible School of Church Growth and Practical Ministry, and Matthew Owojaiye’s Ministry, Kaduna. She is a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Theology from Smith Christian University, Miami, Florida.

Born 17 April 1967 in Kaduna Army Barracks to Muslim parents. Her parents are Higgi from Bazza, Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State. Her father Mr Garba Tumba was an Army Officer. She is the second child, thus she was named Masi according to Higgi traditional naming convention.

Following secondary education, in Kaduna, she also went to the Kaduna Polytechnic where she obtained the OND and HND.

In 2004, she went to Harvard Kennedy School of Government – Harvard University (Public Financial Management)

She was also Chairman of the Adamawa State Chapter of APC and was given a waiver to contest for the Senate seat in the party primaries and she eventually emerged victoriously.

She is the first female State Chairperson of a major political party in Nigeria.

 She advocates for women’s rights and has been a voice for millions of voiceless Nigerian women and the oppressed.

In the 2019 general election, she was defeated by the PDP candidate for the Adamawa North senatorial election, Mr. Ishaku Cliff.

Ms. Garba has not been shy to parrot her firm convictions as a Christian and as a traditional northern girl. When many women came out to distance themselves from President Buhari’s other room comment in 2016, Senator Garba told senators in plenary that before coming to the Senate that her role was in the kitchen.

“I am proud to be in the kitchen and the other room. Before joining the Senate, my primary role was in the kitchen.”

At 53 Senator Garba has broken ceilings, made a name travelled the world as a federal legislator, but remained the essential Northern girl!

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