By Umar Bayo Abdulwahab
Ilorin
Against popular held opinion among Muslim faithful in Kwara state, the Chief Imam of Al-Adabiyya Kamaliyya Central Mosque, Foma, Ilorin, Alhaji Shuaib AbdulRafiu, has justified the gubernatorial ambition of Senator Gbemisola Saraki who is seeking to become a first female governor of the state come 2015.
Gbemisola, the daughter of the late political kingpin of kwara politics,senator Abubakar Olusola Saraki had contested the state’s governorship seat under the platform of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) but lost to the incumbent, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed.
Many believed she lost because she was not favoured by tradition and religion of the people particularly Ilorin emirate where she hailed from.
Saraki, who has defected to PDP and continued to pursue her gubernatorial ambition ahead of 2015, got major backing from the top Muslim cleric based in Ilorin.
Delivering his final sermon in a three-part lecture on Islamic views on Muslim women eligibility for political offices, AbdulRafiu, said Islam as a religion does not discriminate against women in political appointments.
The Imam explained that it was only in a Caliphate society where a Muslim religious leader in the form of a Khalifa was the head that a woman could not aspire or occupy political position.
He added that women could hold governorship, presidential or other political positions in any secular society like Nigeria.
The cleric, who said he had earlier in life argued that Muslim women could not hold political positions, added that further religious and academic studies in foreign Islamic countries had revealed that women could govern in a secular environment of the world.
He also charged Muslim men to be responsible husbands and sons to their wives and mothers, respectively, saying that they should fear Allah in their relationship with women.
Meanwhile, Senator Gbemisola has said that the chronic poverty in the state and the need to stem the tide of high rate of unemployment are her main reasons for joining the Kwara gubernatorial contest.
The ex-senator, while addressing a large crowd of PDP delegates from Kaiama, headquarters of Kaiama local government in Kwara state, advised them not to trade their votes for penny.
