Buhari’s Minister, Mama Taraba Defects From APC, Joins New Party

Aisha Alhassan alias Mama Taraba, who resigned as women’s affairs minister in President Muhmmadu Buhari’s cabinet on Saturday, has defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Alhassan has now joined another party known as the United Democratic Party (UDP).

The former minister’s defection from the APC stemmed from her disqualification from the Taraba State gubernatorial primary election by the ruling party.

Alhassan’s resignation letter addressed to President Buhari was dated September 29, less than 48 hours after the APC disqualified her from the Taraba governorship primary race.

The APC had attributed its disqualification of Mama Taraba to her past public declaration of support for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is now a presidential aspirant under the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

While addressing some journalist in Abuja on Friday, the ruling party’s National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, had said: “As for the Honourable Minister of Women Affairs, she has issues that have to do with party loyalty. Our constitution is clear and it dictates that to contest elections or even hold office in the APC, you must be loyal to the party in every material concern.

“From all she had said in the past and even her comments and general attitude during the screening, the NWC reviewed everything taken together and we arrived at the conclusion that she does not possess the level of loyalty that the APC requires for her to contest elections on our platform.

“The Electoral Act and the APC constitution forbid anyone from being a member of more than one political party at a time. You cannot be a member of APC and be a card carrying member of another party but when you have a situation where it would appear, based on what you know and based on what I know that someone is probably APC in the day time maybe for the purpose of retaining certain offices and they are PDP at heart.

“Or if they are not PDP at heart, they are actually and simply a follower of a one-man permanent presidential candidate…then we have the right to ask ourselves if these attitudes and qualities are characteristics of an ideal member of an APC,” Oshiomhole said referring to Alhassan’s past public declaration of support for Atiku.