Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan (16 September 1959 – 7 May 2021), popularly known as Mama Taraba, was a Nigerian lawyer and politician who served as the Federal Minister of Women Affairs from her appointment in 2015 until her resignation in 2018. She previously served as the senator representing the Taraba North senatorial district from 2011 to 2015. Alhassan was elected senator in the

2011 Nigerian Senate elections Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'', ...

under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). She later decamped to the main opposition party

All Progressive Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, th ...

(APC) and became the gubernatorial candidate of the party in

Taraba State Taraba is a States of Nigeria, state in north-eastern Nigeria, named after the Taraba River, which traverses the southern part of the state. It is known as "Nature's Gift to the Nation". Its capital is Jalingo. The state's main Demographics ...

for the 2015 Taraba State gubernatorial election. She was defeated in the election re-run held on 25 April 2015 by the PDP candidate Darius Ishaku, but on 7 November 2015, tribunal sacked Ishaku and declared Alhassan winner of the 11 April 2015 poll. This was later reversed by the Appeal and Supreme Courts of Nigeria. She was appointed minister by President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian army major general, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 Augu ...

in 2015, and sworn in on 11 November 2015 after being confirmed by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. She resigned as the Minister of Women Affairs of Nigeria on 29 September 2018.

Early life and career

Al-Hassan was born on 16 September 1959; she belonged to the

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people are an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, ...

tribe. A lawyer by training, she became the first female to be appointed Taraba State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice; the first woman to be appointed Secretary, FCT judicial council and later appointed the Chief Registrar of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory,

Abuja Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

on 17 December 2003. After she retired from service she went into business.

Political career

Senate

In the January 2011 PDP primaries, Alhassan defeated the incumbent senator, former ambassador Manzo Anthony. In the 9 April 2011 elections, she won 114,131 votes, defeating Jolly Nyame of the

Action Congress of Nigeria The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), formerly known as Action Congress (AC), was a Nigerian political party formed via the merger from the coming together of a faction of Alliance for Democracy, the Justice Party, the Advance Congress of D ...

(ACN) who polled 92,004 votes. 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). Following the election, she was said to have been in competition for the Senate President seat.

Gubernatorial candidacy

Alhassan contested for

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

in the 2015 Taraba State gubernatorial election under the Platform of the

(APC). She lost to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Darius Ishaku. In November 2015, she was declared the winner of the April 2015 Taraba state gubernatorial election. This judgement was later reversed by an Appeal Court, who stated that the APC did not have "jurisdiction" over the primaries of the PDP. In September 2018, she resigned from her federal appointment as minister and decamped to the United Democratic Party (UDP) after she was screened out by the ruling party APC from contesting the Taraba governorship seat in 2019. She was unanimously declared as the UDP candidate for the March 2019 Taraba State gubernatorial election after the other candidate stepped down in her favour. She later announced her defection back to the

PDP PDP may refer to: Computing and technology * Packet Data Protocol in wireless GPRS/HSDPA networks * Parallel distributed processing in Connectionism#Parallel distributed processing, connectionism * Plasma display panel * Policy Decision Point in t ...

after the governorship election, which was won again by Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party, as the governor of Taraba State. She is widely known as "Mama Taraba", because of her increased influence in the politics of her state.

Personal life

Alhassan's elder brother is former two-term Senator from Taraba Central, Abdulazeez Ibrahim. She actively supported the Taraba State Football Association.

Death

Alhassan died in a

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

hospital in Egypt at the age of 61 from COVID-19 during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt The COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Egypt on 14 February 2020. Background On ...

. President

and former vice president

Atiku Abubakar Atiku Abubakar (; born 25 November 1946) is a Nigerian politician and businessman who served as the vice president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo. He ran for the office of governor of Adamawa State i ...

reacted to her death. In their reaction, President Buhari said he was saddened, while Atiku said he was grieved by the death of the former Minister of Women Affairs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alhassan, Aisha 1959 births 2021 deaths Buhari administration personnel Peoples Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians People from Taraba State 21st-century Nigerian women politicians 21st-century Nigerian politicians 20th-century Nigerian lawyers 21st-century Nigerian lawyers Nigerian Fula people Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt 20th-century Nigerian women lawyers 21st-century Nigerian women lawyers Senators of the 7th National Assembly (Nigeria)