The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Senator Aisha Alhassan, has declared her readiness to support former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s bid for the Presidency against President Muhammadu Buhari if the former decides to contest in 2019.
Alhassan, in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service on Wednesday, said she respected Buhari, but stated that Atiku remained her godfather.
The minister had, in a leaked video on social media, endorsed the former vice-president for the 2019 presidential election.
According to the leaked video, Alhassan endorsed Atiku when she led a delegation on a private visit to the former vice-president on an undisclosed day during the last Sallah celebration.
The minister, who spoke in Hausa in the video, said, “Your Excellency, our father and our president by the grace of God come 2019, before you are your people, your supporters for life, the people of Taraba State.
“They are here to pay our homage and to greet you on the occasion of Sallah and for all that Allah has done to you because Allah has raised your status.”
On Wednesday, Alhassan, in the BBC Hausa Service interview, confirmed that she would support Atiku in 2019.
The minister added that Buhari had not told anybody that he would contest the 2019 presidential election.
She, however, said even if the President decide to contest the election, she would support Atiku for the presidency.
“Since I was in the civil service, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, has been my mentor and godfather. He has remained so even now that I have joined politics. There is a reason for every political relationship.
“Secondly, Baba Buhari has not told anybody that he is contesting in 2019. I can assure you that today, if Baba Buhari says he is going to contest, walahi tallahi (I swear by Allah), I will go and kneel down before him and say ‘Baba, I am grateful for the opportunity you have given me to serve as minister in your administration but Baba, like you know, Atiku is my godfather’.
“If Atiku says he is going to contest, but he too has not said he will contest… Why I said (Atiku) ‘our President come 2019’ is that we expect that he will contest, but he has not told us he will contest. But if he contests, I will go and do what I just told you I will do.”
Alhassan said she was not a hypocrite, adding that Buhari was aware of her relationship with Atiku.
“I am not one to betray trust. If I now say I have no business with Atiku, even Baba Buhari will have doubts about me, he will say ‘this one is a betrayer of trust,” the minister stated.
In response to a question on if it was not too early to talk about 2019, Alhassan popularly called mama Taraba, said, “I said what I said when we went to pay Sallah homage to (Atiku). Is it before him that I am going to campaign? The issue of campaign does not arise.
“Even me, people are calling me to go and contest but I tell them this is the time for governance. This (leak) is the handiwork of my detractors, those who are asking that I should be removed as minister.”
Alhassan believed the ministerial appointment she got was the work of God, adding that whatever happened to a person was destined by Allah.
She stressed, “Is Baba (Buhari) a mad man like them? They have been sharing this (video) using their mobile telephones, saying that ‘if Baba sees this one, he will sack her’. He will not sack me on account of this unless I commit an offence.
“I am doing my job as minister honestly. I defend this administration because it is a government of my party – the APC and Baba is our President whom I respected long before I joined partisan politics. I respect him as President and I will continue to respect him as a man of integrity until I die.
“Those who are saying I will be sacked will be put to shame. Even if I am sacked, it is Allah’s will; I never lobbied for it. It was Allah who gave it to me.”