Alhassan resigns from Buhari’s cabinet

Aisha Alhassan, minister of women affairs, has resigned from the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Suleiman Dantosho, her media aide, confirmed this to TheCable on Saturday morning and made available copies of the letter.

He said Alhassan has also withdrawn her membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“I write with a lot of respect to inform Mr President of my decision to resign my appointment as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and as a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” the letter read.

“Mr President may also wish to recall that I wrote to notify you of my intention to again contest for governor of my state in forthcoming 2019 election under the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and you again graciously blessed my intention and wished me well through a letter personally signed by Mr President which I appreciate and will forever cherish.

“Sir, I purchased the APC nomination forms and went for the party’s screening on Thursday, the 20th of September 2018 along with ten (10) other contestants for the governorship of my state, Taraba. I, with your permission, proceeded to Taraba on the 23rd of September 2018, to prepare for the presidential and governorship primaries then scheduled for the 25th and 29th of September 2018 respectively.

“While preparing for the primaries in Jalingo, I received with the shock and dismay that I was disqualified and not cleared to contest for the 2019 governorship by the National Working Committee of the party (APC). No reason was given for my disqualification.”

Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the APC, had told journalists that Alhassan was disqualified from contesting the Taraba governorship primary over anti-party activities.

Oshiomhole said the minister had not been completely loyal to the APC, and the party could not tolerate those who played such persons within its ranks.

He said after reviewing utterances from the minister and following her obvious relationship with one of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirants, the APC national working committee had no option than to disqualify her.

Alhassan had endorsed former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar for the 2019 presidential election even before Buhari made public his reelection bid.

“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 had said in an interview with BBC.

“Let me tell you today that if Baba says 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.”

Her resignation comes two weeks after that of Kemi Adeosun, former minister of finance. Adeosun bowed out after she was caught in a certificate scandal.