Former women affairs minister, Aisha Alhassan, who suffered massive
defeat in the 2019 Governorship election in Taraba State, has said
that she has completed arrangements to return to the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP).
Alhassan was the governorship candidate of United Democratic Party in
the 2019 elections in Taraba State. She got 14, 651 votes in the
election.
She joined the UDP on the eve of the polls after she failed to secure
the All Progressives Congress ticket, a party she contested under in
2015 and was able to secure 275,966 votes to come second in the
governorship polls.
Alhassan was subsequently appointed the minister of women affairs and
social development by President Muhammadu Buhari but resigned amid
doubts over her political loyalty.
Alhassan told Journalists on Sunday after a UDP stakeholders’ meeting
in Jalingo that majority of her supporters in the 168 wards of Taraba
State had encouraged her to shift base to the PDP.
She said that the stakeholders’ meeting, which lasted till midnight on
Saturday, drew participation from all those who contested for various
political offices under the platform of the UDP, executive members of
the party from the ward to state levels and other respected elders.
Alhassan added that more than 80 per cent of respondents in an opinion
poll conducted by a committee headed by Alhaji Abdulmumini Vaki, a
former PDP chairman in the state, which covered the 16 LGAs, suggested
that she should move to PDP.
The former minister said, based on the outcome of the opinion poll,
she had no option than to adhere to the decision of majority of her
supporters.
According to the former minister, “I cannot go against the decision of
the popular opinions of my supporters. And I am glad that she was glad
that the committee did not suggest the APC as an option.
A communiqué issued at the end of the stakeholders meeting, a copy of
which was made available to the news men on Saturday night,
recommended that two committees be set up immediately to fast track
the defection process.
