El-rufai appoints running mate, Hadiza Balarabe, as Senior Adviser-counsellor

Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has appointed his running mate in the 2019 governorship election, Hadiza Balarabe, as Senior Adviser-counsellor with immediate effect.

The governor announced her appointment in a statement signed by his senior special assistant on media and publicity, Samuel Aruwan, on Thursday, November 8, 2018.

Balarabe, who is currently the executive secretary of the state primary health development agency, will advise the governor on matters of human capital development as well as understudy him and the deputy governor in all aspect of governance.

"As Senior adviser counsellor she will be at the heart of government, attending meetings of the state executive and security councils. The new responsibility places her within the second echelon of the government. Next to the two elected leaders of the executive branch.

"She will join other senior officials to drive the policy and governance aspiration of the government in the remaining crucial months of the current mandate," the statement read.

Governor El-Rufai chose Balarabe as his running mate for the forthcoming election after the incumbent deputy governor, Bala Bantex, opted to contest for a seat in the National Assembly to represent the southern part of Kaduna under the umbrella of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

Balarabe, who was born in 1966, is from Sanga Local Government Area which is located in the Southern Kaduna senatorial district.