The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Aisha Alhassan, otherwise known as Mama Taraba has apologised to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
This is coming after her meeting with the chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun today Thursday, September 14, 2017.
According to the spokesman of the ruling party, Bolaji Abdullahi, the minister apologised for her comments.
He said “Since
the issue of the comment she made came up, the party has not said
anything regardless of what individuals may have told you because we are
a party that recognized the right of her members to express their
opinions or views.“We also had
an opportunity to discuss with the minister to understand what she said
and in what context she said so before we know how to respond. So, when
she came, we asked her to explain to us what truly transpired and in
what context she said what she said and she did offer these
explanations.“Now, having
offered her explanations, we acknowledged that as a member of this
party, she is entitled to her opinion and she is entitled to her choice.
“However, as a senior member
of this party, her statements represent an act of indiscretion because
with the kind of position she occupies even within the party, she is a
party leader in her own right, what she said was not what she was
supposed to say at the time that she said it; that she ought to have
exercised greater judgement than she did and she acknowledged that yes,
maybe she ought not to have…maybe the timing was wrong and she
apologised that if she had put the party in any difficult position, she
apologised.”
Alhassan had earlier announced that she will support former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s 2019 presidential race.
The
minister, who declined to speak with newsmen after her meeting at the
APC headquarters, was grilled for over 2 hours, Vanguard reports.
Abdullahi also said “I
want you to take note of the fact that nobody is questioning her right
to take the position she has taken. We have not come out to say, ‘why
are you saying you are supporting this person?’ she has a right to her
choice and to support whoever she wants to support afterall she is not
saying she supports a member of another party but what we are saying is
that with the position she occupies, she ought to have exercised greater
sense of discretion and better judgment knowing that making that kind
of statement would definitely create some other situations for the
party, if not for the government.”
The APC spokesman also denied reports that the party will ask the minister to resign.
Meanwhile, Senator Shehu Sani has called on the minister of women affairs, Aisha Alhassan to resign.