The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Sen. Aisha Alhassan who earlier declare her support for the presidential ambition of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday attended the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Minister had last week openly declared her support for Atiku in 2019 while insisting that President Muhammadu never said he will re-contest as president.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the meeting holding at the Presidential Council Chamber, started at exactly 11:00 am with Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and other cabinet members also in attendance.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the presence of Alhassan, who was rumoured to have summited her resignation letter to President Buhari attracted the attention of the photo journalists in the chamber.
The action of the journalists might not be unconnected with the minister’s recent remarks on 2019 presidential election.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that Alhassan, who led a delegation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) team from Taraba State to Atiku later told the BBC Hausa Service categorically that she would dump President Muhammadu Buhari under whom she is recently serving as minister for Atiku should Buhari show interest in contesting the 2019 presidential elections.
Alhassan who spoke in native Hausa language in the video told Atiku: “Mr President, our father, Nigeria’s president for 2019, God willing, in your presence, today are your people who have been placed under your care for forever.”
TheNewsGuru.com reports that Alhassan’s statement has since sparked reactions amongst other cabinet members who saw Alhassan guts as an act of disloyalty to her present leader, President Muhammadu Buhari.
Governors Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun) Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna) and some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had called on Alhassan to resign as minister for declaring that she would not support Buhari in 2019.
“The minister is entitled to her opinion, but I would have saluted her if she had resigned her appointment because she cannot blow hot and cold at the same time,” Amosun said at a recent book launch in Abeokuta.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that El-Rufai in his reaction said he was not surprised at the minister’s outburst because she has never supported President Buhari from the beginning. He noted that the APC leadership had earlier warned President Buhari not to appoint Alhassan as minister.
Meanwhile, the former Vice President had also accused President Muhammadu Buhari of sidelining him after riding on his back, influence and money to become president in 2015.