By Aliyu DANLADI
Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, hajia Aisha Alhassan, has resigned her appointment and also withdrawn her membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In separate letters to the Presidency and her Sarkin-Dawaki ward of the APC in Jalingo, Taraba State, Alhassan attributed her action to “the unfair treatment and grave injustice” meted to her by the party.
Both letters were dated Sept. 29, 2018, with the resignation letter delivered to the Presidency, while the one notifying the party of her withdrawal of membership was personally delivered to the chairman of her ward, on Saturday.
The APC membership withdrawal letter titled: “Notification of withdrawal as APC member”, Alhassan recalled that she purchased the nomination form to seek the party’s ticket to contest the Taraba governorship seat.
“I completed and submitted the form and later presented myself for screening, but to my utter dismay, I was declared unqualified. No reason was given as to why I was disqualified.
“I feel I was unfairly treated by the National Working Committee of the APC.
“I feel that grave injustice was done to me. Because of that, I have withdrawn my membership of the party and hereby return the membership card issued to me,” she stated.
The minister, in her letter to the presidency, thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for offering her the opportunity to serve Nigeria
The minister, who contested Taraba governorship election in 2015, was on Wednesday disqualified from re-contesting the Taraba governorship election on the APC ticket in 2019 by the party’s Governorship Screening Committee.
Mr Adams Oshiomhole, the APC national chairman while giving reasons on Friday in Abuja why the minister was not cleared to contest the party’s ticket at its governorship primary, said she had not been a loyal member.
Oshiomhole said the party could not tolerate those who played anti-party activities within its ranks, adding that the minister judging from her actions, had not been completely loyal to the party.
He said after reviewing utterances from the minister and following her obvious relationship with one of the PDP presidential aspirants, the APC National Working Committee (NWC) had no option than to disqualify her.
“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.
“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.”
Oshiomhole added that the minister knew why she was being denied from using the APC platform to contest the Taraba governorship election in 2019.
