Etim Effiong
The former Minister of Women Affairs of Nigeria, Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan, often referred to as Mama Taraba is dead. She was 61 years old.
Her media aide, Bala Maina, confirmed the incident to Channels Television via the telephone on Friday.
The ex-minister was said to have passed away at an undisclosed hospital in Cairo, Egypt.
Al-Hassan was appointed the Minister of Women Affairs by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
Al-Hassan resigned her position on July 27, 2018 and thereafter dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the United Democratic Party (UDP) where she emerged as the party’s governorship candidate in the 2019 general elections in Taraba State.
She lost to the incumbent, Governor Darius Ishaku who ran for a second term in office under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Prior to her ministerial appointment, Al-Hassan was a former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria representing the Taraba North Senatorial District under the PDP.