Aisha Alhassan, Nigeria’s women affairs minister, has resigned her position. Ms Alhassan, known widely as Mama Taraba, was appointed in 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a September 29 letter to the president, Ms Alhassan decried her disqualification from contesting for the All Progressives Congress’ governorship ticket in Taraba State, saying the action constituted a grave injustice against her since she paid to purchase the form and had been a loyal member of the party since 2014.
She told the president she decided to resign from the cabinet because the APC has effectively disqualified her from being a minister if the party does not find her fit to be a governorship candidate.
Her resignation, which comes two days after the APC screened her out of aspirants who will participate at the party’s
governorship primaries on September 30, came months after speculation that she would resign from the cabinet.
Ms Alhassan’s tenure as minister has been blighted since she publicly disclosed her allegiance to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in 2017.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the minister said she would follow Mr Abubakar to wherever he goes as her political father. But when Mr Abubakar dumped the ruling APC and joined the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party later in 2017, the minister did not follow him.She insisted that she would remain in the APC with utmost loyalty, but her comments continued to hunt her, especially amongst top APC bigwigs who strongly believed she has been a cabinet insider for Mr Abubakar.
Ms Alhassan followed Mr Abubakar to the APC as part of the new-PDP bloc that broke away from the then-ruling party in the run up to the 2015 general election, which ultimately produced Mr Buhari as the first opposition politician to be elected president.
Aisha Alhassan, who resigned her appointment as women affairs minister and also dumped the APC on Saturday, has picked the United Democratic Party (UDP), nomination form to contest for the Taraba governorship seat.
Mrs Alhassan, at a press conference shortly after joining UDP and picking its nomination form, claimed that the APC had become “the weakest political party in Taraba” with her defection.
GUYS, WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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FACEBOOK COMMENTS
Olalekan Dahood
I don't even know why Buhari still keep her in his cabinet up till now, he supposed to have show her the way out since she pledged loyal to atiku
Endy Edeson
DAHOOD; Buhari does his things secretly without making it obvious. I know he was angry when she pledged loyalty to Atiku
Daniel Orji
why discribing apc as the weakest party in taraba? if her interest is endorsed she would still be there. i could applaud her if she had resigned because the party is weak, not because she was denied a ticket
Bode Sanusi Haruna
All these her mere excuses to justify her insincerity to APC and her inordinate ambition to rule Taraba state at all cost! How can you be in a party and be pledging your support for the Presidential aspirant of another? A case of wanting to eat your cake and still have it! Where is that condoned in the world? She should stop giving flimsy excuses and face her ambition joo!
