By Ibrahim Abdul’Aziz
Senator Aisha Alhassan, immediate past Minister of Women Affairs, has, again, defected to the opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
The senator made the disclosure, Saturday, during a meeting of UDP stakeholders in the state held at the Unity Hall in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.
Shortly before Alhassan announced her defection, the state chairman of the UDP, Alhaji Sani Hassan Chul said, the party had set up a five-man committee that traversed the168 wards of the 16 Local Government Areas of the state, making consultations and sampling party faithful’s opinion about Alhassan’s intention.
The chairman, amid cheers, disclosed that the committee, under the chairmanship of Alhaji Abdulmumini Vaki reported that the general consensus was that the former minister should be allowed to decamp to PDP in the interest of Taraba’s development.
The former minister had in the recent time romancing with the ruling PDP in Taraba State, a situation that fuelled the rumour that she might likely defect to her former party, the PDP.
On Sunday, after the UDP stakeholders meeting in Jalingo, Alhassan told journalists that majority of her supporters in the 168 wards of Taraba had encouraged her to shift base to the PDP.
She said that more than 80 per cent of respondents in an opinion poll conducted by a committee headed Alhaji Abdulmumini Vaki, a former PDP chairman in the state, agreed that she should move to PDP.
According to the former minister, “I cannot go against the decision of the popular opinions of my supporters, the former minister declared, adding that she was glad that the committee did not suggest the All Progressives Congress, APC, as an option.
The Crest recalls that barely six hours after her resignation as a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet, Alhassan, popularly known as Mama Taraba, joined the United Democratic Party, UDP.
She contested the gubernatorial seat of her home state Taraba, under the banner of UDP but lost to incumbent Governor Darius Ishaku in the 2019 general elections, scoring 14, 651 votes.
She had joined the UDP on the eve of the vote following her failure to secure the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket, a party under which she contested the 2015 governorship poll and was able to secure 275,966 votes, coming second.
President Muhammadu Buhari subsequently appointed Mama Taraba Alhassan Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development but had to resign amidst doubts over her loyalty to the party.