Nigeria’s youngest lawmaker, Rukayat Shittu, has won the All Progressives Congress (APC) re‑election primary and is now the party’s candidate for the Owode/Onire State Constituency seat in the Kwara State House of Assembly.
On Wednesday, Shittu beat her only cleared challenger, Sulyman Ayegun, to clinch the party ticket. The result is turning heads in a constituency that has long followed a rotational arrangement between the Owode and Onire axes—a system that usually limits representatives to a single term.
Party officials and observers called the primary keenly contested, and Shittu’s victory shows she has strong backing within APC ranks as the general election approaches. She now goes into the next phase as the party’s flag bearer, expected to campaign on her record and her vision for continued representation.
If she wins at the general election, Shittu would make history as the first lawmaker to secure a second term in Owode/Onire, potentially breaking that long‑standing political pattern. Political stakeholders say the primary sets the tone for what promises to be a closely watched contest, with parties already mobilising across the constituency ahead of the polls.
