Following her recent loss to the incumbent governor
of Taraba state, Darius Ishaku, the Minister of
Women Affairs and Social Development, Senator
Aisha Jumai Alhassan, has come out to state that she
won’t congratulate the governor.
Alhassan, who contested the election on the
platform of the ruling All Progressive Congress, had
high hopes of being the first female to be
democratically elected governor in Nigeria.
But the hopes were dashed when the Supreme Court
dismissed her suit challenging the victory of Darius
Ishaku in the 2015 general election.
In a statement issued, on Friday, the Minister stated
that: “I have heard that some people have said that I
will not continue as a politician and that I am
worried.”
“Why should I be worried? If President Buhari
contested 3 times and became the President after
the 4th contest. Not because he lost the first three,
but because the fourth time was God’s time.”
“Why wouldn’t I continue? I didn’t get it this time
because it is not God’s time, because everybody
knows I won the election, even PDP people in Taraba
State. PDP people know I won the election because
they know the manipulation they did in the
government lodge Wukari, where they added over
50, 000 votes for Darius.”
“They also know they manipulation they did in Donga
and Kurmi LGA’s where they manipulated and also
added about 50, 000 votes together for Darius.
Therefore, I am not angry with anybody, instead I
thank God for giving me good health and strength to
contests and win the over 270,000 votes I got in the
election. Clean real votes, not manipulated like the
PDP votes.”
“I say all this without fear of contradiction because
PDP people know this. So we will all watch as this
government which has little or no understanding of
the plight and needs of the people of Taraba, let
alone know solutions for them.”
“I don’t know why people worry about me not
congratulating Darius. I did not because you only
congratulate true and deserving winners. He knows
that he did not win. Therefore, he is not deserving of
my congratulations.”
“Once again I seize this opportunity to thank my
supporters and urge them to remain steadfast and
continue believing in God and start getting ready for
the next round. I pray God grants us all long life and
good health to fight next round.”