Aisha Alhassan

Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan, popularly known as Mama Taraba 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 after his election.^[1] She was previously a Senator, representing Taraba North constituency of Taraba State, Nigeria which she won under the platform of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). She later decamped to the main opposition party All Progressive Congress (APC) and became the Gubernatorial Candidate of 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 removes Taraba Governor, Darius Ishaku, declares 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.^{[2] [3]}

Early life and career

Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan is a fulani. 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 as 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.^[3]

Political career

In the January 2011 PDP primaries, Jummai defeated the incumbent Senator, former Ambassador Manzo Anthony.^[3] It was said that she was a protégé of 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 Christian support despite herself being Muslim.^[4] She was also generous and fought vigorously in the campaign, again making her the first elected female senator from Taraba State.^[5]

In the 9 April 2011 elections, Jummai won 114,131 votes, followed by Jolly Nyame of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with 92,004 votes.^[6] She was one of four women elected on the PDP ticket, the others being Nkechi Nwaogu (Abia Central), Helen Esuene (Akwa Ibom South) and Nenadi Usman (Kaduna South).^[7] 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.^{[2] [8]}

She is widely known as "Mama Taraba", because of her increased influence in the politics of her state.^[9]

Personal life

Aisha Jummai's elder brother is former Senator Abdulazeez Ibrahim^[4] from 1999-2007. She actively supports the Taraba State Football Association.^[10]

References