Mama Taraba says she'll become governor in 2019

Minister of Women Affairs,

She disclosed this while speaking at the APC's national secretariat on Monday, June 4, 2018 when newly-elected APC state chairpersons were sworn in.

Alhassan, popularly called Mama Taraba, finished second (275,984 votes) to current Taraba governor, Darius Ishaku (369,318 votes), in the 2015 contest, but she remains undeterred and trusts God and the people of Taraba to give grant her victory in 2019.

She said, "I won the 2015 election; everyone knows that, including the People's Democratic Party (PDP), and I will re-contest in the election in 2019 if God keeps me alive and well.

"It is God that gives power to whoever he desires. I won the election in 2015, but God did not give me power.

"I will keep trusting in Him and the grassroots people of Taraba, and God willing, I will win the election this time."

Court battle in 2015

Alhassan came close to becoming Nigeria's first democratically-elected female governor after a tribunal court briefly nullified Ishaku's victory at the 2015 polls. The court reached the judgement based on Alhassan's argument that Ishaku could not have been eligible for the election since he allegedly did not partake in any primary election by the party.

Alhassan's hopes were cut short when the Court of Appeal in Abuja overruled the tribunal's judgement, ruling that it's a gross misdirection in law.

The five-man panel unanimously ruled that Alhassan and the APC had no right or capacity to question the decision of the PDP who decided to field Ishaku to the satisfaction of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

This decision was upheld by the Supreme Court who ruled that the appeal by the APC and its candidate lacked merit.