2019 Presidency: No Regrets Supporting Atiku, Says Buhari’s Minister

…God’ll decide my fate in Buhari’s govt

…Alhassan visits Aso Rock, meets Chief of Staff

Minister of Women Affairs, Senator Aisha Alhassan, has declared that she has no regrets over her decision to abandon President Muhammadu Buhari and support former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for the presidency in 2019.

 
The minister yesterday visited the presidential villa a day after declaring her support for Atiku.
 

Alhassan told State House Correspondents that she was not afraid of losing her job for taking such a decision and will throw her weight behind the former Vice President should President Buhari insist to re-contest for the presidency in 2019.

The minister had, on Wednesday, told the BBC Hausa Service that there was nothing wrong about speaking the truth on the relationship between her and the former vice president who is also eying the presidency in 2019.

Alhassan arrived the villa at about 3:46p.m. and was sighted within the precinct of the office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.

It was unclear whether the minister was summoned to the villa over her recent comments or she came to clear herself.

She told reporters on her way out that she was sure that President Buhari was not naive to jump into conclusion of relieving her of her present job because of the recent interview with the BBC.

 
Asked to elaborate more on the interview, Alhassan said: “No, I have no comment. What will I say now? I have said all in BBC Hausa Service, get someone who speaks Hausa very well to translate it for you.”
 

On whether her recent comment has affected her relationship with the President, the minister said: “How will I know? I have not seen the President, but I don’t think the president is a naive person.”

Speaking on how confident she was in retaining her job, the Women Affairs Minister said: “God gives and God takes. That is all and I have said it all in Hausa. You know that there is an end to everything. Let the will of God be done.”

In an interview with the BBC, Alhassan pointedly said that even if President Buhari decides to contest in 2019, she would still support Atiku because of their long standing relationship.

“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.

“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,” she said.

Alhassan, popularly known as Mama Taraba, also told the BBC that she was not scared of being relieved of her appointment as minister in the present regime.
“If because of what I said, I am sacked, it will not bother me because I believe in Allah, that my time has elapsed. 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,” she said.
 

Before the minister’s interview with the BBC, there have been a video where Alhassan described the former vice president as Nigeria’s next president.

In the video, the minister described Atiku as the next President of Nigeria in 2019.
“Mr President, our father, Nigeria’s president for 2019, God willing, in your presence today are your people who have been placed under your care for forever,” she said as the head of a Taraba APC delegation during a visit to Atiku.
 

Some ministers in the Buhari’s cabinet have confronted Alhassan over her comments on her support for Atiku in the 2019 presidential poll.

Alhassan, a 2015 APC governorship candidate in Taraba State and onetime senator, reportedly told her colleagues that there is difference between administrative loyalty and political loyalty.

The minister reportedly said administratively, she is loyal to President Buhari, but politically she is on the side of Atiku.

Although the former vice president has not publicly declared his intention, he is believed to be mobilising grassroots support across Nigeria for the 2019 polls.

Also, Buhari has also not declared if he will run for a second term, but there has been widespread speculations that he might not want to throw his hat in the ring given health challenges he has been facing in the last two years.

Buhari returned to Nigeria on August 19 after being on medical vacation in London, United Kingdom for 104 days.

Prior to this interview, the minister had reportedly paid a visit to Wadata Plaza, the national headquarters of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where she met with the Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, and canvassed for more representation and appointments of women into positions within the party.