Zainab Buba Galadima, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has worked to build her own political identity, separate from her famous father, the opposition figure Alhaji Buba Galadima. In an interview on the Mic On Podcast, Zainab explained that her rise in politics was the result of her own hard work and initiative, not family connections. She strongly pushed back against the widespread rumor that her father’s influence secured her a position in the Buhari administration.
Zainab detailed her journey from the grassroots, starting as an elected counselor under the CPC party. She made it clear that her father was never her “political godfather” and that his adversarial relationship with President Buhari would have made it impossible for him to get her a job in the villa. She wants people to understand that she built her career by herself, without any favors from her father.
She also shared the real story behind her involvement in the Trader money program, a major government initiative. Zainab explained that she personally presented the idea of empowering young women and traders to then-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during the 2015 campaign. He was impressed with her proposal and asked her to work with him, which later led to the development of the program.
“No, he never got me a job. I ran for office. I was a counselor, as in, I was an elected counselor under CPC and then we moved into APC. I built myself politically by myself. I never had some, you know, he never gave me”.
“My father was not my godfather. Political godfather? No. At all. So he didn’t help you to get a job in the villa because he never—you were the Buba Galadima’s daughter that got a job with Buhari. Yes. And yet he fought Buhari. So it wasn’t—it’s not true that your father got you the job”.
“I had this idea of empowering young women, young people, women as well. He asked me to put it down in writing. So I gave it in writing before inauguration in 2015. So when I did that, that was what they built up to make Trader money”
“But my father never had any hand in anything because if they knew—anybody that knows me as his daughter, if I come to ask for any favors, I don’t get it. So your father was even an obstacle for you politically. Oh, seriously, till tomorrow.
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