Gov Tambuwal and Maryam: "It was not a “secret marriage” as all the mandatory rites provided by Islam were fulfilled"

Jaafar Jaafar, a close of Governor Aminu
Tambuwal's new Maryam Mairo Mustapha, sets
the record straight about the couple's relationship
in a piece titled "Celebrating Mrs. Tambuwal"
"I know about Maryam Mairo Mustapha's
years of courtship with Sokoto State
governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, since he
was the Speaker of the House of
Representatives,"
I planned to travel to Kano from Abuja to attend
the wedding on Friday, but a last-minute official
engagement spoilt my plan. Mairo won’t easily
forgive me for this.
Tambuwal and Mairo’s plan to marry was
deliberately delayed until he left office as Speaker
of the House of Representatives. But as fate
would have it, Tambuwal got another office, a
situation that ultimately defeated his aversion to
publicity and pomp and pageantry inherent in
political office holders’ marriage.
To set the records straight for gossip news sites
that concoct stories to amuse their readers, it
was not a “secret marriage” as all the mandatory
rites provided by Islam were fulfilled. The Chief
Imam of Kano, Professor Sani Zahraddeen,
officiated the marriage at the residence of her
guardian, Lawal Mukhtar, a dowry was paid and
family members, relatives and friends witnessed
it.
Tambuwal’s preference to low-key marriage is
understandable. In Nigeria, once the marriage of
a governor is made public, it will become a state
affair, and the public till will be tilted to fund the
private affair. In such marriages, public funds are
usually used to fund elaborate parties, chartered
flights, mother’s eve, (and even grandmothers
eve), celebrity magazines, etc.
Well-educated, unassuming, kind and
accomplished woman, Mairo garnered years of
work experience in telecoms, oil and gas, IT, and
energy sectors.
Mairo Mustapha Balarabe is a daughter of a
former Member of the House of Representatives
(1979-1983) and one of the educated disciples of
late Malam Aminu Kano. Among the Members of
the House of Representatives from Kano in those
days, late Mustapha Balarabe and Sidi H. Ali were
the only ones who remained loyal to Malam
Aminu Kano.
At a point, Malam Aminu Kano considered him for
the governorship ticket of PRP in 1982, but the
permutation changed when Sabo Bakinzuwo, a
senator then, picked the ticket. He was later
appointed the commissioner of finance in the
Sabo Bakinzuwo administration in 1983. He died
in 1986.
Although it is a special moment for Mairo, but
she surely will be in tears. In such a special day
when Hajia, who died in 2011, was not alive to
see Mairo in her matrimonial home, counsel her,
embrace her, pray for her, it will be a mixed
feeling of joy, grief and tears"