‘Mama Taraba’ joins UDP after dumping APC, picks guber nomination form

Aisha Alhassan, who resigned her appointment as women affairs minister and also dumped the APC on Saturday, has picked the United Democratic Party (UDP), nomination form to contest for the Taraba governorship seat.

Mrs Alhassan, at a press conference shortly after joining UDP and picking its nomination form, claimed that the APC had become “the weakest political party in Taraba” with her defection.

The former minister, also called Mama Taraba, claimed that she left the APC with thousands of her supporters, adding that many aspirants seeking the APC ticket to contest various offices in 2019 would soon pick UDP nominations forms.

Mrs Alhassan, who was disqualified from seeking the APC ticket, alleged that she was dropped by the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole.

“It was not the screening committee that disqualified me; the chairman of the party personally did it.

“But, I have put that behind me. I have moved to the UDP and will seek its ticket to contest the governorship election.

“Oshiomhole has used his powers to deal with me, but it is God that gives power,” she said.

The former minister, who contested the seat in 2015 and lost to PDP’s Darius Ishaku, advised President Muhammadu Buhari to pay more attention to the activities of APC leaders so that their actions would not affect the party’s popularity.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the governorship screening committee of the APC on Thursday disqualified Mrs Alhassan from joining 10 other aspirants to fight for the ticket in the primary election slated for Sunday, September 30.