The Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan, has restated her position that she will support a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, for the 2019 presidential election.
Mrs. Alhassan, in an interview with BBC Hausa, added that even if President Muhammadu Buhari decides to contest in 2019, she would still support Mr. Abubakar.
“Atiku is my godfather even before I joined politics,” she said in Hausa. “And again, Baba Buhari did not tell us that he is going to run in 2019.”
“Let me tell you today that if Baba said he is going to contest in 2019, I swear to Allah, I will go before him and kneel and tell him that ‘Baba I am grateful for the opportunity you gave me to serve your government as a minister but Baba just like you know I will support only Atiku because he is my godfather. If Atiku said he is going to contest.”
“In a nation where politicians are quick to dump the people that assisted them to get to where they are, for political expediency, I have chosen to maintain a long standing family relationship with Abubakar, as well as Buhari, who I consider as a father”.
Mrs. Alhassan, popularly called Mama Taraba, added that she is not scared of being relieved of her job as minister.
“If because of what I said, I am sacked, it will not bother me because I believe in Allah, that my time has elapsed that is why…”
