The political back-and-forth involving the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Aisha Alhassan, President Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of last week has spilled over into the new week with a new player, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, a main opposition leader in Nigeria, joining the fray.
An online medium, Point Blank News, published an unsourced statement credited to Senator Alhassan, who is the women affairs minister under President Buhari, in which she allegedly slammed Nasir El Rufai and named him as a mastermind of the Chibok school kidnapping of 2014.
“The embattled Minister of Women Affairs, Amina Alhassan has threatened to expose Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir Elrufai and his role in Chibok girls kidnapping,” part of the report said.
“The Minister said she was surprised that a dirty character like Elrufai could even have the gut to comment against her preference for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for 2019 Presidential race.
“She said, there are lot of things Nigerians needs to know about the planning and execution of Chibok girl kidnapping because those behind it will be unmasked very soon. The intention was very obvious, to defame and blackmail PDP and Jonathan out of power.
“The Minister became angry by the comment credited to Elrufai where he was quoted as saying that Buhari was severely warned not to appoint Amina Alhassan as Minister,” quoting excerpts of the report.
Chief Fani-Kayode, a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, waded into the controversy generated by the report by calling on Alhassan, popularly known as Mama Taraba to speak the truth about what she knows.
Mama Taraba has a duty to tell us all she knows about @elrufai's alleged role in the Chibok girls scam and Boko Haram.I urge her to do so.
— Femi Fani-Kayode (@realFFK) September 10, 2017
“Mama Taraba is a courageous woman who has spoken the truth. Vice President Abubakar Atiku is a blessing to this nation whilst President Muhammadu Buhari is a curse. The APC sun is about to set,” Fani-Kayode wrote in an e-mailed note to The Trent on Sunday morning.
“Mama Taraba has a duty to tell us all she knows about Governor Nasir El Rufai’s alleged role in the Chibok girls scam and Boko Haram. I urge her to do so.
“I said it BEFORE, DURING and AFTER the 2015 presidential campaign that the truth about the Chibok girls and those behind Boko Haram was yet to be heard. Now it is all coming out. Nothing is hidden under the sun.
“Thank you Mama Taraba. Others will also come out to tell us what they know. Soon the world will know who the real terrorists are,” he concluded.
But, an unverified twitter account, bearing the name of Alhassan, believed to be fake, responded harshly to the former aviation minister. Her reaction, which criticised him for reacting to what it called “unverified reports”, angered Fani-Kayode.
In another email to The Trent, he slammed Mama Taraba saying that she needs to stand up and tell the truth without fear or “clean up her mess”.
“Mama Taraba should continue to stand on the platform of truth and not allow herself to be intimidated. I reacted to a story in which she allegedly exposed Nasir El Rufai,” he wrote.
“It took her 24 hours to deny the story and I wonder why it took so long. If the story is not true she should blame the original source, medium and author of the allegation and not me.
“I merely reacted to it like millions of other Nigerians did. She should clean up her stinking mess and not blame me for it.
“I guess that it is also not true that her associates in the APC government have alleged that N12 million went missing under her watch as Minister and that she now supports Abubakar Atiku against her own boss.
“She should stand firm and stop blowing hot and cold. You cannot serve God and the devil at the same time. I repeat she should clean up her stinking mess and understand that I am not a soft or easy target.
“Whichever way the APC sun is still setting. My advice to her is to stop getting her pretty knickers in a twist, to tow the path of honor, to resign from this accursed Govt. and to leave the APC before they strip her stark naked and feed her to the dogs,” he ended.
