She said her decision to join the race was driven by a desire to ensure that women and youth benefit from the dividends of democracy.
Simisola Fajemirokun-Ajayi, a senior special assistant on strategy, investment and partnership to former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, has purchased the All Progressives Congress (APC) expression of interest and nomination forms to contest the 2027 House of Representatives election.
Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi completed the purchase of the forms on Wednesday in Abuja. She is seeking to represent the Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo/Odigbo Federal Constituency of Ondo State.
The former minister’s aide gained public attention in June 2024 following reports that she accused a Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Ibrahim Lamuwa, of sexual harassment.
At the time, Mr Tuggar, who was still serving as minister before resigning last month to pursue his ambition to become governor of Bauchi State, reported the matter to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation for investigation.
The case was later escalated to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), where both parties were invited for questioning.
The permanent secretary denied the allegation. However, the outcome of the ICPC investigation was not made public.
Aside from her role as a ministerial aide, Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi previously served as Executive Secretary of the West African Economic Summit and as Head of the National Situation Room for the Presidential Campaign Council.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja after submitting her forms, she said her decision to join the race was driven by a desire to ensure that women and youths benefit from the dividends of democracy.
“I’m in the race to represent our women, our youth, and basically that constituency has been underrepresented, and I’m here to make sure that our dividends of democracy reach our constituency, our people. That’s why I’m here,” she said.
Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi expressed readiness to serve her constituents, noting that women and young people must move beyond the background to active participation in governance.
“My job is to ensure that we, as women, as young people, show that we can not only just stay in the background but also serve our people actively by representing them via their mandates.
“We are working with the mandates of the people. We are working with the mandates with purpose. We are working with the mandates of an assignment. We have what we want to do. More need to be done,” she noted.
She also stated that her experience in foreign affairs and other public roles would enable her to drive development in her constituency if elected.
“Our experience in foreign affairs, our experience in organising the West Africa Economic Summit on behalf of the president, all of these experiences can help bring this economic corridor from Ore to Okebun, to Ile-Oluji and ensure that these places are viable economically. That’s why we’re here,” she said.
The aspirant also commented on the Reserved Seats for Women Bill currently before the National Assembly.
She described the bill as long overdue and a validation of the political class’s stated commitment to women’s inclusion.
“Mr President has said several times that you can’t fly….., a bird cannot fly with one wing. So it is, the bill is just only validating what the policy and the principle of our leaders have been actually.”
The proposed reserved seats for women bill is part of ongoing constitutional amendment efforts by the National Assembly aimed at improving female representation in politics.
The bill seeks to create additional legislative seats exclusively for women in both the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly. Under the proposal, each state would have at least one reserved seat in the Senate and the House of Representatives, with similar provisions applying at the state level.
The move is designed to address Nigeria’s persistently low female political representation, which remains among the lowest globally. Following the 2023 general elections, women secured less than five per cent of seats in the Senate and the House.
The bill is still undergoing legislative consideration and would require constitutional amendment procedures, including approval by state assemblies, before it can become law.
