Alhassan on the grill: Sorry, bad timing

by Alexander O. Onukwue

The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Aisha Jummai Alhassan, was debriefed by the authority of the APC, after more than two hours of questioning at the party headquarters on Thursday, 14th September.

Mrs Alhassan raised eyebrows over the past two weeks when a video of her emerged in which she pledged to support former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, over President Buhari should both men express interest in contesting the 2019 General elections.

Bolaji Abdullahi, APC’s National Publicity Secretary, explained that Mrs Alhassan, being a party leader in her own right, should not have said what she said.

“She ought to have exercised greater judgment that she did and she acknowledged that. That maybe the timing was wrong and she apologized”, Prince Abdullahi said.

Mama Taraba, as she is fondly called, repeated the views expressed in the released video in an interview with the BBC Hausa service, leading to some within the APC, particularly Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai, to insinuate that she had not always had the President’s back.

The Publicity Secretary noted that the Minister probably had the right to say what she said, but the timing of her opinion put the party in a bit of a fix. The 2019 elections are about 18 months away and it appears the APC would rather focus on 2017 and the affairs of state at the moment, than about elections.

There were no official statements from Mrs Alhassan to debunk or corroborate that she “apologized”. An unverified Twitter account which claims to be her official handle only announced the end of the rehabilitation programme for 106 returned Chibok girls. The programme had lasted 8 months and the girls will proceed to the American University of Nigeria, in Yola.

 

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