IBADAN, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – For Nigeria’s next administration, there are many prospective first ladies after candidates have been elected to be flag bearers for their parties in the presidential race.
Peter Obi won on the platform of Labour Party, Bola Tinubu for All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar got the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket, Omoyele Sowore became the African Action Congress (AAC) flagbearer and Rabiu Kwankwaso got the nod of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), and have all emerged as the top contenders in the fast approaching election.
In a few months from now, one of these men will become Nigeria’s President and as usual, a new First Lady will emerge.
Although there is no provision for the ‘office of the First Lady’ in Nigeria’s Constitution, the country has always allocated ‘pet project’ funds to the President’s wife since 1960.
Voiceofnaija.ng’s Feyisayo Helen has now compiled the list of the wives of the top contenders and shares a few details to know about them.
Oluremi Tinubu
From being the First Lady of Lagos State to becoming a Senator of the Federal Republic, educationist, administrator and philanthropist, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, OON, is an inspiration to many.
Oluremi Tinubu was born on 21 September, 1960, to an Itsekiri mother and Yoruba father.
She was the youngest of 12 children and was raised in Ogun State.
Mrs. Tinubu received a B.Sc. in Education from the University of Ife, and a National Certificate of Education in Botany and Zoology from the Adeyemi College of Education. She became the First Lady of Lagos State when her husband, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was elected Governor at the return of civilian rule in 1999.
As the First Lady, she established the New Era Foundation, dedicated to establishing centres for “all round development of young ones and promote public awareness on environmental health and community service.”
She represents Lagos Central Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after winning re-election in the 28 March, 2015 polls.
Oluremi Tinubu has executed a lot of philanthropic acts to alleviate the plight of indigent persons and most importantly, she has touched the lives of girls and women in her constituency.
She has also written a number of publications; including an auto-biography- The Journey of Grace – My FaithWalk.
In recognition of her achievements and contributions to societal upliftment, Senator Oluremi Tinubu has been honoured severally locally and internationally.
Among these are the National award of the Officer of the Order of the Niger [OON]; Fellowship of both Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo and College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti; Member, Board of Trustees of Kings’ University, Ode-Omu; Ghana Noble International Award for Leadership (2004); Gambian Diamond Award for Immense Contribution to the Emancipation of People from Poverty (2005); many citations and chieftaincy titles.
In appreciation of her contributions as a role model, the AFAO/WAWA (Association Des Femmes De L’Afrique De L’Ouest/West African Women Association) named the Oluremi Tinubu Women Training Centre in Gorom, Senegal after her.
She is happily married with children to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the former Governor of Lagos State and presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Margaret Obi
Margaret Obi, also known as Margaret Brownson Usern (née), like Senator Oluremi Tinubu, is also a former First Lady. Her husband, Peter Obi, once governed Anambra State.
Both a businesswoman and a humanitarian, Margaret Obi is well-known as the wife of Peter Obi, the 2023 contender for the presidency on the platform of the Labour Party.
Margaret Obi and her husband have been married for thirty years. They tied the knot in 1992 and the union is blessed with two children; a boy named Gregory Peter Oseloka Obi and a girl named Gabriella Nwamaka Frances Obi.
Both children reportedly based abroad.
Mrs. Obi is the impetus behind her husband’s National Gender Affirmative Action, which he began when he was Governor of Anambra and tried to ensure that women were given a place in his cabinet.
She continuously backs causes that aid children and women. Margaret fights for the rights of women.
She managed the creation of family courts inside the state’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development (MWAPD), which are meant to handle cases involving child abuse and the infringement of women’s rights, notably widows making sure they inherit their deceased husband’s property.
Amina Titilayo Atiku-Abubakar
Titilayo Atiku-Abubakar, is a Nigerian advocate of women and child rights and one of the wives of former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar.
She is the founder of Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) and the initiator of the private bill that led to the establishment of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
Titilayo Albert was born on 6 June 1949, into a Christian home to the Albert family, a Yoruba family from Ilesa, Osun state.
She was raised in Lagos and had her primary education in Lafiaji, Lagos then proceeded to St. Mary’s Iwo, Osun state for her secondary education up until 1969.
In 1971, she married Atiku Abubakar, then a young customs officer, before attending Kaduna Polytechnic.
Apart from English, she speaks Yoruba and Hausa languages fluently. She converted from Christianity to Islam.
Titi Abubakar, wife of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, said she married her husband because of his honesty, sincerity and integrity.
Mrs. Abubakar made the remarks when a group, Women for Atiku, paid her a courtesy visit at her Maitama residence in Abuja.
“I get confused whenever I read the false allegations of corruption being peddled by mischief makers against my husband in the media.
“I ask myself if they are referring to my husband whom I have been married to for 47 years or a different person.
“No one knows my husband like I do and their descriptions of him are totally that of a different person and not that of the man I love and adore because of his uprightness.”
She said they were brought together by destiny and had been endeared to him because of his sterling qualities and patriotism to his fatherland.
In 1999, when her husband, Atiku Abubakar, became Nigeria’s vice president, she started an advocacy to end forced prostitution and other forms of human trafficking.
First, she founded Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF), and then sponsored a private bill for strict punishment for traffickers, and for the establishment of a federal agency, the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, responsible for fighting trafficking of persons in Nigeria.
She also ran education courses focused on welcoming and rehabilitating girls repatriated from different countries back home to Nigeria.
Her husband, Atiku is the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Opeyemi Sowore
Opeyemi Oluwole Sowore is the Nigerian-American wife of Omoyele Sowore, the Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC).
She is the Vice President, Head of Consumer Engagement at Teladoc Health having previously led as executive at American Express, Citigroup and Delta Air Lines.
She holds a BA from State University of New York at Binghamton in 1995 and an MBA from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester in 1997.
She came to public view after several advocacy for Omoyele Sowore to be released after the journalist was rearrested by the Department of State Services on charges of threat to National Security including treasonable felony, cyberstalking and money laundering on 6 December, being earlier arrested on 3 August, 2019.
Opeyemi Sowore has led several protests and discourses over the detention of her husband by the Department of State Services including leading protesters to the United Nations Plaza in New York on 24 September, 2019, advocating global intervention from Democracy Now and the US Senate into the release of Omoyele.
Her union to Sowore is blessed with children.
Salamatu Rabiu Musa
Salamatu is the former First Lady of Kano State. She attended Government Girls College (GGC) Kabo.
She is rarely seen in the media.