As Nigerians from all walks of life continue condole with the family and associates of Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan (Maman Taraba) over her death in Egypt on Friday, Dateline Nigeria tells you FIVE things to know about the former Minister of Women Affairs.
She was born on September 16, 1959 in Jalingo, Taraba State. Her father is Alhaji Abubakar Ibrahim (OON), Sarkin Ayyukan Muri. Her elder brother of the same parents Senator A. A. Ibrahim (Jnr) represented Taraba Central from 1999 to 2007. She had childhood experiences in Jalingo, Jos in Plateau State and Kaduna.
1. Education and schools attended:
For her education, she attended Muhammed Nya Primary School, Jalingo; L E A Primary School, Tudun Wada, Kaduna; Saint Faith College (now GGSS) Kawo Kaduna Jan. 1973 – June 1977 (first set to do four and years in Secondary School because of the change of commencement of school year from January to September) and School of Basic Studies (SBS) A. B. U. Samaru Zaria from July 1977 to July 1979 (was a prelim Science Student).
She read LLB at same ABU from October 1982 to June 1985. She went to the Nigerian Law School Lagos between 1985 and 1986, Called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986, and did her National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) 1986 – 1987.
She went for the Technical Aid Corps Programme of the Federal Ministry Of Foreign Affairs (on Secondment) to the Republic of Fiji from 1990 – 1992. She was admitted to the Fijian Bar and enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Fiji in 1991.
2. Student Unionism/Politics:
Aisha Jummai Alhassan joined students’ politics in ABU Main Campus in 1977 when she was a little over 18 years. She contested (for the first time by a non-undergraduate) for the post of Vice President of the SUG in 1978. She contested alongside Elizabeth (Lizzy) Wambebe then an undergraduate studying Fine Arts, and a male undergraduate.
Though she was a prelim student then. she won the election and became the Vice President and the only female in the SUG Exco of that year (1978 – 1979).
During their tenure, there was a student crisis as a result of which some of the Exco members including the President were indicted and expelled from the University. Aisha then became the Acting President and completed the tenure.
3. Marriage to Ango Abdullahi and MS Alhassan
Her first husband is Prof Ango Abdullahi, the Convener of the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) and former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. They have three – two female and a male – children together.
She met Prof Ango Abdullahi, then Deputy Vice Chancellor of ABU, in 1978. He was always representing the then Vice Chancellor Prof. O. O. Akinkugbe at meetings with the SUG Exco. The two married in September 1979 and, three months later, Ango Abdullahi became the Vice Chancellor in December 1979.
After separating from Ango Abdullahi, she got married to Engr MS Alhassan, former Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) in 2007.
4. Legal career and many firsts
She started work as a Magistrate Grade II in April 1988 in the Kaduna State Judiciary. She transferred services from Kaduna State Judiciary to FCT Judiciary in 1991 as Magistrate Grade I. In 1992, she assumed duty at FCT Judiciary in 1992 and rose to become the first female Chief Magistrate in the FCT in 1996.
She was subsequently moved to Judicial Administration as the first female Deputy Chief Registrar and Director Litigation, High Court of the FCT Abuja in 1997; appointed the first female Attorney General of Taraba State in 1997 before returning to FCT Judiciary in May 1999.
In 2002, she was appointed the First female Secretary of the FCT Judicial Service Committee in November, 2002 and later the first female Chief Registrar of the High Court of the FCT in December 2003 before she voluntarily retired from the FCT Judiciary as Chief Registrar on the 31st of December, 2009.
5. Political career
Alhassan joined the then Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2005 but only became actively involved in politics in October 2010 when she ran for Senate and elected in 2011, after defeating the then incumbent senator Manzo Anthony.
In 2015, she was the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Taraba State, but Darius Ishaku of the PDP was declared the winner. and she challenged the outcome in court.
In November 2015, the tribunal declared her the ‘actual’ winner of April 2015 Taraba State governorship election. She would have been the first woman in Nigeria to become an elected Governor but for the judgments of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, which upheld Ishaku’s victory.
Alhassan was also appointed as Minister of Women Affairs by President Muhammadu Buhari, a position she held for some time before quitting to join a party called UDP, which unanimously declared her the candidate in the 2019 governorship election in Taraba. She eventually returned to the PDP.
