President Muhammadu Buhari has accepted the resignation of Aisha Alhassan, minister of women affairs. Alhassan tendered her resignation on Saturday following her disqualification from the governorship race of Taraba state by the national working committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Alhassan had said she was not fit to be a minister if the party did not consider her to aspire to its governorship ticket.
In a letter, Buhari accepted her resignation.
“I have received your letter offering your resignation as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I accept your resignation with immediate effect. On behalf of the government and people of Nigeria, I thank you for your past services to the nation.”
The president has directed Aisha Abubakar, minister of state for trade and investment, to take over Alhassan’s former ministry.
The former minister ran into trouble with the ruling party after she publicly endorsed former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar for the 2019 presidential election.
Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the APC, had said Alhassan was APC in the day and PDP at night.
“She had issues that have to do with party loyalty. Our constitution is clear and it dictates that to contest elections or even hold office in the APC, you must be loyal to the party in every material concern,” he had said.
“From all she had said in the past and even her comments and general attitude during the screening, the NWC reviewed everything taken together and we arrived at the conclusion that she does not possess the level of loyalty the APC requires for her to contest elections on our platform.”
Alhassan is now a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP).