Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development Aisha Alhassan, also known as Mama Taraba, has described as false a rumor alleging that she accused Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai of knowing about the abduction of the Chibok girls before it happened. She also described as spurious the allegation that she mismanaged N12 million.
Her special assistant on media, Dantsoho Suleiman, said the statement on Mr. El-Rufai falsely credited to the minister and the allegation of financial mismanagement were invented to discredit her.
“In order to verify the authenticity of the statements, I enquired from Senator Alhassan and she categorically denied making any comments, statements or interviews to the press. The comments going round social media on Governor El- Rufai did not emanate from Senator Alhassan.
“She is not a security official and has no knowledge of the events that resulted in the kidnap of the Chibok girls. By nature and character, she is not the type to divulge sensitive information,” Mr. Suleiman said.
The spokesman added that Mrs. Alhassan has enormous respect for Mr. El-Rufai and sees nothing wrong with the governor’s opinion of her.
“It should be noted that a lot of people will be cashing in on Aisha’s BBC interview to concoct all sorts of fabricated lies in order to achieve their selfish agendas. The public should note that apart from the BBC Hausa interview, no further comments and statements being attributed to her [Alhassan] are from her,” said Mr. Suleiman.