Former Minister of Women Affairs, Jummai Alhassan, popularly known as Mama Taraba, has declared that aside the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, there’s no other political party in Taraba State.
Addressing reporters in Abuja on Saturday, Mama Taraba said the APC, a party he joined in 2015, treated her badly ahead of the 2019 election.
The former lawmaker said she was disqualified from contesting the 2019 governorship election in the State without any reason.
“Is there any other party in Taraba apart from the PDP? Have you seen any other party in Taraba apart from the PDP? Of course there’s none,” she said.
“The future is as always. Remember I was PDP Senator for four years and it never changed. We came as APC but when we went in, we saw that…well, you saw what happened in my respect in 2019.
“I mean I went to secondary school at least, and I was a Minister in the PDP government but that notwithstanding, they said I was not qualified to contest election.
“What kind of party is that? They did gross injustice to me that was why I left the party.
“After all, I was a PDP Senator for four years and when I was not ready to fight the Governor then, I said no, I won’t stay here and fight the Governor, then we moved to the nPDP and when there was merger here and there, we now merged with the APC.
“And when I saw that with all I did for the APC in Taraba State. I wasn’t appreciated. What they gave me was that at the last minute when I’ve spent my money in buying form and went for screening, they said I wasn’t qualified for no reason.
“If there was a reason I would have said ‘okay leave it’ but there was no reason. They just said I was not qualified. I did not go to only secondary school. I’m a qualified lawyer.
“I worked in the judiciary for 21 years as magistrate judicial administrator. I went to the Senate for four years, I contested the governorship election as the PDP candidate in 2015.
“I was qualified in 2015 …so I don’t know how…was it in 2019 that the situation that brought about my disqualification arose? Then I said well, if you can’t have justice in the party you worked for, there’s no point being in the party.
“Nobody sent me out of the PDP. I walked out myself and I’ve walked back now. After the 2019 election, I was floating because I was in the UDP which was not present in the state.”
Recall that Mama Taraba had late last year defected from United Democratic party (UDP).
Then, she said her decision was based on the outcome of the opinion poll during stakeholders meeting of the UDP.