The All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Taraba State, Senator Aisha Alhassan, has distanced herself from a purported ‘video clip’, which she claimed was being circulated by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
In the said video clip, it was alleged that the APC candidate, who is also the Minister of Women Affairs, had boasted that she would influence the outcome of her appeal at the Supreme Court.
The Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, had annulled the election of the PDP governorship candidate, Darius Ishaku, as the governor of Taraba State and declared Alhassan as the winner of the April 12, 2015 governorship election.
But, the Court of Appeal had in December upturned the victory awarded the APC candidate by the election petitions tribunal in the state.
Alhassan had, however, approached the Supreme Court, seeking to upturn Ishaku’s victory.
Dismissing the purported ‘video clip’, Alhassan denied any attempt, either by herself or aides, to influence the outcome of the apex court’s judgment in her favour.
In a statement by the Aisha Media Office, signed by John Ali-Mararaba and made available to journalists in Kaduna on Sunday, the minister said the PDP in the state had become jittery since she approached the Supreme Court.
This, she argued, was responsible for the so-called video clip, noting that the opposition party was confused, desperate and trying to whip up sentiment to curry the sympathy of the judiciary.
“Why are they worried and trying to whip up sentiment if they say they have a good case and I have no case?” she said.
She added that rather than waste taxpayers’ money on campaigns in the media, the party should be prepared to meet her at the Supreme Court.
The governorship candidate reasoned that if she had the influence as alleged by the PDP, she would have swung the judgment of the Appeal Court in her favour. She said power comes from God.
Alhassan added, “The Court of Appeal has decided that I have no locus standi to question Mr. Darius Ishaku’s qualification and eligibility to contest the election. Though, with due respect to the Court of Appeal, I don’t agree with that because that is not the position of the law and the proper place to prove that is before the Supreme Court, and not the media. That is why I am going to the Supreme Court.
“So, the PDP should cool down, stop wasting Taraba State funds on media campaigns and let us meet at the Supreme Court.
“As I have always said, I believe in God and the Nigerian judiciary, which I was part of for 20 years before I joined politics.”
