I don’t care being sacked… if Buhari contests in 2019, I’ll support Atiku – Minister

Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Jummai Alhassan, has disclosed she will support Atiku Abubakar, if he decides to run for office in 2019.
In a video which went viral yesterday, the minister declared support for the former vice-president.
Her action sparked condemnation, particularly among supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
But in an interview with the BBC Hausa, Alhassan described Abubakar as her godfather, saying she does not mind losing her job for supporting the former number two citizen.
“Atiku is my godfather even before I joined politics. And again, Baba Buhari did not tell us that he is going to run in 2019,” she said.
“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 says he is going to contest.
“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… Baba is not a mad man like those calling for my sack. They have been sending it and spreading that if Baba sees this I will be sacked?.”
Popularly called Mama Taraba, Mrs. Alhassan was the APC governorship candidate in Taraba in 2015, an election she narrowly lost to the current Peoples Democratic Party Governor.
Her support for Mr. Abubakar will not be surprising to political observers, as the former vice president is believed to be a major financier of the APC in the North-east, including Taraba.
Although Mr. Abubakar has not publicly declared his intention to run in 2019, he is believed to be mobilising and getting ready for the election. He came third in the APC presidential primaries in the build up to the 2015 elections, losing to President Muhammadu Buhari and ex-Kano governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.