By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Youths Renaissance has dissociated the embattled Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Aisha Alhassan, from comments claiming Governor of Kaduna State, Mr Nasir El-Rufai, knows about the kidnapping of over 200 schools girls in Chibok, Borno State in 2014 by members of Boko Haram.
In a statement signed by the National Secretary of APC Youths Renaissance, Mr Collins Edwin, and made available to Business Post on Sunday, the group said the remarks were being credited to the Minister “in a desperate bid to discredit her and cause ill feelings between her and other people.”
“It seems that all sorts of spurious statements are now being attributed to the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Senator Aisha Alhassan.
“Apart from a write up on the false allegations that she mismanaged about N12 million on the day of her inauguration as Minister, another false statement regarding Governor Nasir El Rufai is being circulated, all in a desperate bid to discredit her and cause ill feelings between her and other people.
“In order to verify the authenticity of the statements, I enquired from Senator Aisha Alhassan and she categorically denied making any comments, statements or interviews to the press.
“The comments going round the social media on Governor El-Rufai did not emanate from Senator Aisha Alhassan. She is not a security personnel and has no knowledge of events that resulted in the kidnap of the Chibok girls,” Mr Edwin said in the statement.
He said further that, “By nature and character, Senator Aisha Alhassan is not the type that divulges sensitive information on the public domain.
“Senator Aisha also made it clear that she respects Governor El-Rufai and sees nothing wrong with the views he earlier expressed on 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 ab initio that apart from the BBC Hausa interview, no further comments and statements being attributed to Senator Alhassan came from her.”
Adedapo Adesanya