Anyone, who knows a little about the politics of old Gongola State would easily tell you that one of the major influencers of the politics of two states, Taraba and Adamawa is the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Ever since he appeared on the political scene as an associate of the late Gen Shehu Musa Yar’Adua in the PDM, he has grown by leaps and bounds.
His becoming the Vice President and subsequently building on the political platform he inherited from Yar’Adua meant that any politician, who wanted to aspire to positions from any part of the country could lean on him politically and financially. He had the well-oiled political machinery and financial muscle.
For Hajia Aisha Alhassan, the current Minister for Women Affairs, she has always been in politics even though she was not an active person. After serving as the Attorney General of her state, she moved to Abuja to become the Chief Registrar at the FCT, where undoubtedly she became more exposed to politicians and obviously built on the goodwill and career that she had back home in Taraba State. It was, therefore, not difficult for her to retire from the civil service and in less than two years later, became an elected member of the Senate.
She had it all cut out, courtesy of the political machinery of Atiku Abubakar in the State as well as her own sagacity. Obviously, she had always been a member of the PDM and since the organisation was only a political association and not a political party, no one could accuse her of breaking any rule.
Her closeness to Atiku Abubakar helped her in many ways. One of it was winning the APC’s governorship ticket in Taraba where she defeated many of the major stakeholders in the party, even though some of Buhari’s men would want us to believe that it was the Buhari’s factor that made her to win. It was, indeed, contrary as Buhari would have preferred a man to win the party’s ticket in the state. Indeed, at a point, there were talks that the party leadership did not recognise her victory, but she stood her ground backed by Atiku.
When it was time for APC presidential primaries, she repaid Atiku by queuing behind him and encouraging her delegates to do same in Lagos. Atiku did not win and she continued her battle even after she lost the Governorship election.
There were claims that Atiku also helped her in defraying the bills arising from the various judicial battles that arose out of the election. She fought and lost, but her political clout did not in any way diminish and she knows this.
Even though she was given the portfolio of Women Affairs Minister, many who knew Aisha Alhassan believed that the appointment was just for her to take a little rest as that post would not give her the desired challenge she needed. She had expended much on the Governorship race, she is also believed to be oiling her machinery for a relaunch and if there is one thing that the Buhari government has done, it is to limit the volume of patronage that goes around even among party loyalists.
Based on this, Aisha Alhassan, earlier had to lead members of the APC back home to the National Headquarters of the party to complain that nothing was coming to them despite the fact that the party was in power. The protest was a newsmaker, a serving minister, leading protest against the government she is serving in. That is the character of Aisha Alhassan and her inability for pretences.
Back home in Taraba, she is not alone. Indeed, an aide to the Adamawa Governor, his Chief of Staff was in the news earlier in the year, around the same time that Alhassan led APC members to protest at the party’s National Secretariat that they would leave APC before 2019. The Adamawa governor has not hidden his loyalty to Atiku Abubakar. He steered hornet’s nest earlier in his administration by saying that Atiku made him Governor. And not just that, he employed Atiku’s first daughter as his Commissioner for Health.
Such is the strong hold Atiku has in Adamawa and Taraba States and it would be foolhardy for any politician to wish to succeed in that area without taking the Atiku’s factor into cognisance.
Buhari and his ardent political followers cannot claim not to know that Aisha Alhassan supported Atiku during the party primaries and, therefore, she has always exhibited the same trait as she came out to express. The seeming neglect of her people, which she came out to express earlier in the protest only served to encourage the outburst that took place days ago because she had to come out to let her people know that the Buhari presidency has not benefited them and they should be ready to jump ship if Buhari chooses to continue in 2019.
Who is Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan? Popularly known as Mama Taraba, she is a Nigerian politician. She is the Minister of Women Affairs of Nigeria. She was appointed in 2015 to the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari.
She was previously a Senator, representing Taraba North Constituency of Taraba State, which she won on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). She later decamped to the main opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC) and became the Gubernatorial Candidate in Taraba State for the 2015 general elections. She was defeated in the election re-run held on 25th of April 2015, but on 7 November 2015, tribunal removed Taraba Governor, Darius Ishaku and declared Aisha Alhassan of the All Progressives Congress winner of April 11, 2015 poll, this was later reversed by the Appeal and Supreme Courts of Nigeria.
What kind of a person is Hajia Aisha Jummai? We can tell you that she is a Fulani and a lawyer by training, Aisha Jummai became the first female to be appointed Taraba State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice. The first woman to be appointed the Secretary FCT judicial council and later appointed the Chief Registrar of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on 17 December, 2003. After she retired from service, she went into business.
In the January 2011 PDP primaries, Jummai defeated the incumbent Senator, former Ambassador Manzo Anthony. It was said that she was a protégé of the former Governor Jolly Nyame, who wanted her to defeat Manzo, thinking he could then defeat her. However, after winning the primaries, Jummai ran an energetic election campaign, managing to gain Christians support despite herself being a Muslim. She was also generous and fought vigorously in the campaign, again making her the first elected female senator from Taraba State.
In the 9 April, 2011 election, Jummai won 114,131 votes, followed by Jolly Nyame of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with 92,004 votes.
She was one of the four women elected on the PDP ticket. Others being Nkechi Nwaogu (Abia Central), Helen Esuene (Akwa Ibom South) and Nenadi Usman (Kaduna South).
Following the election, she was said to have been in competition for the Senate President seat. In November 2015, she was declared the winner of April 2015 Taraba state gubernatorial election. Thereby becoming the first woman in Nigeria to become a Governor. This judgement was later reversed by the Appeal Court, who stated that APC didn’t have jurisdiction over the primaries of PDP.
She is widely known as “Mama Taraba”, because of her increased influence in the politics of her state.
Not many people know Aisha Jummai’s elder brother is former Senator Abdulazeez Ibrahim from 1999-2007. She actively supports the Taraba State Football Association.
Since she joined politics in 2011 and contested as a Senator and won in her state, Mama Taraba has been known to be a Mass Mobilizer Of Women. Apparently aware that women and youths dominate the voting population in her state and, indeed, Nigeria, Mama Taraba seized the opportunity and built her political base around women. Her mobilization skills in the state earned her the title ”Mama Taraba”.
