A group representing the voices of women on democratic issues, Women in Grassroots Politics, has called for the reelection of the All Progressives Congress National Woman Leader, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu.
The group commended Hajiya Aliyu who is also the President of the Council of African Political Parties (CAPP) in Sudan, for her commitment to democratic ideals and open door policy systems.
The group described Aliyu’s as a women who is willing to address issues that are germane to the growth and development of womenfolk. “The way and manner she has kept the APC Women of Worth, a platform representing key voices of APC women in one-fold, is one of the reasons for wanting her to continue.”
A member of the group and a stalwart of APC, Princess Olajumoke, opined that Ramatu’s open door policy, irrespective of tribe, race or position are what she endeared Aliyu to her. “This is a woman that will not look at you as being inferior to her. She will listen to you and be eager to attend to any issue brought to her. If you enter her office crying, you will smile on your way out,” Olajumoke enthused.
Another member of the group, Hajia Rabiu Adama, Ramatu has done what other women in her shoes has never done before now within the shortest time she got to her present position. “Let’s look into what she has done, from being loyal to the party, to the total support she has been giving to the President himself. Her support to the women folks is enormous, yet with no money attached to her office for such projects. After rendering help, she is not the type that goes out to be proclaiming she has done you a favour. She is indeed a silent philanthropist.
“Many things have happened in the party, but due to her sheer magnanimity, it never resulted into chaos. This is the type that we want to be seeing in our country. We want her re-elected and if possible be given bigger responsibilities where she can impact more to the society.”
Any moments from now, APC will hold congress and election into different offices will hold.
Ramatu Tijjani, nee Sidi, was born on June 12, 1970, in Abuja to the royal family of late Alhaji Sidi Ali Mamman Bawa Allah of Lokoja, Kogi State, she did not begin life like some lucky ones did. She started its journey, of course unsure of what it would offer as tomorrow lurked. At Dawaki Primary School, Suleja, in 1976, she began the search for the value of life. Six years after in 1982, after obtaining her first school leaving certificate, maiden Ramatu arrived the Federal Government College in Minna, Niger State, a restless pathfinder in earnest pursuit of secondary school education which culminated successfully in 1988.
Two years later in 1990, overwhelmed with the hunger to conquer her environment, she found succor in the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. After a remedial programme, she was to later earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning.
Armed with the enduring armour of knowledge and burning with a passion to positively engage humanity, she began a robust work life by serving her compulsory National Youth Service Scheme at the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. After a successful service to her father land, Ramatu joined AZAH intermediaries Nigeria Limited, a civil engineering construction firm, as one of its Managing Directors.
In subsequent years, she embarked on a steady and conscientious pursuit of the proverbial Golden Fleece. To this end, she proceeded to the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, where she added another feather to her academic cap with a Masters Degree in Public Administration. Not resting on her laurels, she’s currently acquiring a PhD in Security and Strategic studies at the institute of governance and development Studies from the same Ivory tower.
In apparent recognition of her compelling erudite disposition, she was later conferred with a Doctor of Public Administration honorary degree by the Prestigious Commonwealth University, London, United Kingdom. Similarly, she earned another Certificate in Leadership Skills from the reputable Abbey College, London, also in the United Kingdom.
A young woman in a hurry but resolute to write her own copy of history. She bowed to the overpowering zeal to serve humanity. In 2004, she was appointed a Special Adviser on Women Affairs, Youth and Social Development to the Chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council. Ramatu was to later cut her teeth, rendering service to man and community at this grassroots anchor of the development chain. She later served as the Focal Person for the Federal Capital Territory (2), anchoring the implementation of the Millennium Development Goal in Nigeria’s Cosmopolitan political capital.
In 2007, she made a bold political career statement, not common with the conservative disposition of women of northern Nigeria extraction like her. She ignored traditional stereotypes, confident of her capacity, resolute in her capability and convinced that it takes courage to succeed. She threw her handbag into the ring of partisan politics. She ran for election to represent Kwali/Kuje/Abaji Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. A greenhorn in politicking and the nuances of electioneering, her foray crashed. Unknown to her, providence had secured another role for her to play. Mother nature had charted a detour enroute her locating a befitting residence on another political turf.
Barely a year later in 2008, she was emerge the first female National Vice Chairman (North Central Zone) of the then leading opposition political party in the country, the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP. A fearless woman in a man’s den, she dared both the lions and the hyenas that bared their fangs in the dark alleys of intricate political conspiracies.
For her, failure would never be a woman if it is not a man. After all, world history has tutored that gender posed no barriers of rivers to cross to breast the tape of accomplishments. Late Golda Meir of Israel had shown it. Late Baroness Margaret Thatcher of England had proved it as well.
In 2010, Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu shook hands again with destiny. She emerged the National Woman Leader of the then conservative All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, a Party, whose ideology she had consistently subscribed to until its recent demise.
While holding court, she shone like a million stars in the sky. It was like an icing on the cake. Hajiya Ramatu Aliyu was to blossom; rich in content and profound in conviction. She mobilized women in the Party and organized them into a mortal political force for electoral combat. She raised the bar of intellectual political engagement among the women and ensured that their deserved place, no other took.
Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu who also doubles as the president of the council of African political parties “women wing” after she keenly contested and won the Pan-African body’s election in khartoum-Sudan has effectively left an indelible footprint on the sands of time as an irrepressible Amazon of change.
As a wife, happily married to debonair Ahmed Tijjani Aliyu, a seasoned banker, she knew the responsibilities of a successful marriage like hers. As a mother of three children, she also knew the obligations of responsible motherhood. As she cared for the well being of her family, she also dispensed with the responsibilities of providing leadership in order not to lose her women flock. She strengthened their place in the Party’s dynamics and used it as a platform to effectively market the Party’s programmes as it related to women empowerment and development.
Tirelessly, she soldiered on, initiating reforms and fortifying capacity building measures in the knowledge that it takes institutions, not individuals, to build enduring systems that change the course of history.
It is indeed instructive that long before her eventful sojourn in politics, she had crystallized a noble dream of providing succor to those who ordinarily could not help themselves. The milk of human kindness flowed so ceaselessly in her vein that she floated a Non-Governmental Organization, NGO, christened the Global Women and Youth Empowerment Strategy, GLOWYES.