Mama Taraba’s Ministerial
Nomination Mere Compensation
Editor’s note: The recently unwrapped long-
awaited list of the ministerial nominees has
successfully continually divided the polity as
Nigerians keep up with either supporting or
criticising every move that the president makes.
Eustace Dunn , a social commenter and Naij.com’s
senior editor , in this opinion article examines the
ministerial nomination of one of the prospective
ministers on whether it was based on merit or
compensation.
Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan
When Henry Thoreau said that if we will be quiet
and ready enough, we shall find compensation in
every disappointment, he may have envisaged
that the likes of Senator Aisha Jummai Al-
Hassan would one day have a feeling of
dissatisfaction that results when an expectation
is dashed.
With the nomination of the former Senate
member as one of the prospective ministers to
work in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet,
one begins to think whether the president’s
nomination was majorly based on absolute
recompense or political virtue.
First female governor
Al-Hassan who is popularly known as ‘Mama
Taraba’ had left the representation of the people
of Taraba North at the Senate to contest for the
governorship seat in April 11 Taraba state poll
on the platform of the ruling All Progressives
Congress. She is known for almost becoming the
first democratically elected female governor in
Nigeria before a re-run was done.
Although, in the history of Nigerian political and
democratic dispensation, there was once a
female governor in Anambra state. Virginia
Ngozi Etiaba was instated from her position as
the deputy governor to the-then governor Peter
Obi when the governor was impeached by the
state legislature for gross misconduct. Etiaba
was governor for just three months as she soon
transferred power back to her boss after an
appeal court declared the impeachment invalid.
In the case of Mama Taraba however, she would
have become the first to be elected female
governor, but she was left defeated by the
incumbent governor, Darius Ishiaku. Thus, Etiaba
remains the only female who sat as governor,
albeit perchance.
Obviously, there had been jubilation in the whole
Jalingo as she led in the vote counts.
Regrettably, panic set in as the election was
declared inconclusive. Speculation had it then
that Governor Ishiaku who vied for a second
term on the platform of the Peoples Democratic
Party was at the top of his game to arm-twist
the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Alas, ‘Mama Taraba’ lost in the governorship bid.
Mama Taraba’s visit to President Buhari sealed
the nomination
Without doubt, the senator’s visit to the-then
president-elect was a clear indication that she
needed a federal might to reclaim what she
believed to be a mandate stolen from her. By all
means, she had won a part of the president’s
heart on the basis of an inclination to share in
her plight.
On the account of the senator’s defeat, President
Buhari during the visit had to admonish her
using his own presidential failure and eventual
success as a perfect illustration to resuscitate
her confidence. “Don’t give up,” he told her.
As a matter of fact, the former lawmaker’s
nomination is what one would be forced to call
‘a choice of sympathy’ simply owing to the fact
that on the one hand, she deserted the former
ruling PDP for the APC and on the other hand, it
was on the point that the federal government
simply wants to promote the idea of women in
politics.
This is evident especially as Buhari had urged
Taraba natives during the electioneering
campaigns that the APC was committed to
rights and empowerment of women. Or is there
more to the relationship between the president
and the senator? Your guess may not be
inconsequential.
In the light of this, the nomination is more of
compensation than merit. On the aspect of merit,
she has done well as a legal luminary in the
history of Nigerian judiciary as one time
attorney general of Taraba state and first
woman to be appointed secretary Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) judicial council. But then, an
onlooker would be able to detect that apart from
these legal and political achievements, the
president chose her as a prospective minister
based on political consolation.
The federal might factor
Be that as it may, the president during the
senator’s visit encouraged her to continue the
legal action against Governor Ishiaku saying
that he hoped Al-Hassan wins in the
governorship election petition tribunal. It is on
record that the application of federal might in
fighting court cases is very effective in legal
resolutions.
Nevertheless, If she eventually gets screened on
Tuesday, October 13, and is confirmed, there
could be very promising chances that the federal
might and legal connection factors would help
her penetrate the judicial system to manipulate
any decision from the tribunal.
By and large, if this was the plan President
Buhari had when he expressed optimism for the
senator’s tribunal victory and nominating her as
a minister to be, then there would apparently be
a rape on the judicial system and the true
essence of democracy in Nigeria.
Thus, on comparative terms, it would have been
better judged in future if Mama Taraba won the
case at the tribunal on a neutral basis than
when she eventually clinches on her pyrrhic
victory on the groundwork of federal might.
https://www.naij.com/597963-buhari-compensated-mama-taraba-ministerial-nomination.html
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