Taraba: Gov. Darius, PDP Not Deserving Of My Congratulations – Aisha Alhassan

Aisha Alhassan-Taraba-APC

Still smarting from the loss of her appeal at the Supreme Court over a week ago, the All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate in Taraba State, Senator Aisha Jumai Alhassan, has said only “true and deserving winners” will get her congratulations, not her political rival, Governor Darius Ishaku.

The apex court upheld the December 31, 2015 ruling of the Appeal Court, which affirmed that the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Ishaku, was the validly elected governor of Taraba State. Earlier, the election petitions tribunal had nullified his election and declared Alhassan winner of the April 11 governorship election in the state.

In a statement she issued on Friday, Alhassan, who is currently the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, however, dismissed insinuations in some quarters that her political career is over with the Supreme Court judgment.

“I have heard that some people have said that I will not continue as a politician and that I am worried”, she said.

“Why should I be worried? If President Buhari contested 3 times and became the president after the 4th contest, not because he lost the first three, but because the fourth time was God’s time, why shouldn’t I continue?”

The APC leader in Taraba State said she did not emerge governor because according to her, “it is not God’s time”, even as she insisted that she won the April 11, 2015 governorship election.

The statement reads in part: “PDP people know I won the election because they know the manipulation they did in the government lodge Wukari, where they added over 50, 000 votes for Darius.

“They also know they manipulation they did in Donga and Kurmi LGA’s where they manipulated and also added about 50, 000 votes together for Darius.

“Therefore, I am not angry with anybody, instead I thank God for giving me good health and strength to contests and win the over 270,000 votes I got in the election. Clean real votes, not manipulated like the PDP votes.

“I say all this without fear of contradiction because PDP people know this. So we will all watch as this government which has little or no understanding of the plight and needs of the people of Taraba, let alone know solutions for them.

“I don’t know why people worry about me not congratulating Darius. I did not because you only congratulate true and deserving winners. He knows that he did not win. Therefore, he is not deserving of my congratulations.

“Once again I seize this opportunity to thank my supporters and urge them to remain steadfast and continue believing in God and start getting ready for the next round. I pray God grants us all long life and good health to fight next round”.