Ex-Women Affairs minister, Aisha Alhassan, dies aged 61

Former Nigeria’s Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan, popularly known as Mama Taraba, has died at the age of 61.

The details of her death are still sketchy but Ripples Nigeria gathered that she died on admission at a hospital abroad.

Alhassan, born in Jalingo, was the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 guber election in Taraba but lost to the incumbent Governor Darius Ishaku.

Shortly after her loss, President Muhammadu Buhari named her Minister of Women Affairs, and she served between 2015 and 2018, before she resigned her appointment following a controversy.

READ ALSO: Mama Taraba set to undergo surgery, calls for prayers

Alhassan made another move in 2019 to become governor of Taraba but the APC failed to clear her and she defected to the United Democratic Party (UDP).

Her travails in the ruling party began when she publicly endorsed ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2019 elections, an act that caused a huge embarrassment to the APC leadership.

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