Meet Nigeria's First Female Governor, Mama Taraba

Aisha Alhassan has been declared the winner of the April 11 governorship election in Taraba state, thus making her Nigeria’s first female governor-elect.

This was after a Taraba state governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja nullified the election of Governor Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to Vanguard, the tribunal headed by Justice Musa Danladi Abubakar declared Alhassan, popularly referred to as Mama Taraba, as the bonafide winner of the election.

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is also among the ministerial nominees who were screened and confirmed by the Nigerian Senate.
Reliable sources in Taraba have also confirmed the report. This means President Muhammadu Buhari will have to shop for a replacement for the minister-designate in the coming days.


Sources in Abuja disclosed further that the APC and its governorship candidate had challenged the victory and declaration of Ishaku as the winner of the election.

At the hearing, Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN), the counsel to the petitioners, made an adoption in his final written addresses, urging the tribunal to return the first petitioner, Alhassan, as the elected governor of the state.

The counsel to the first, second and third respondents, however, prayed the court to dismiss the petition, saying it lacks merit, while Solomon Akuna (SAN), the counsel to the PDP, also prayed that the petition be dismissed because the petitioners could not prove their case.

This new development further quells reports which made rounds that Alhassan’s nomination by the president may have been a way of compensating her from losing out at the polls earlier this year.