The Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan, stole the show at the Council Chambers of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja today.

Before President Muhammadu Buhari stepped in for the Federal Executive Council meeting, Alhassan had gone round the Council Chambers to exchange pleasantries with cabinet members.

Cabinet members could not help laughing when photographers and cameramen focussed on Alhassan, popularly known as Mama Taraba.

Alhassan later engaged in a two-minute tete-a-tete with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; while the Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari, looked on.

Buhari kick-started the FEC meeting with the openings prayers by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.

Mama Taraba had, in an interview with the Hausa Service of the BBC last week, disclosed her preference for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar against Buhari for the 2019 presidential contest.

“Atiku is my godfather even before I joined politics, and again Baba Buhari did not tell us that he is going to run in 2019. And let me tell you today that if Baba said he is going to contest in 2019, I swear to Allah, I'll go before him and kneel and tell him, ‘Baba, I'm grateful for the opportunity you gave me to serve your government as a minister. But Baba, just like you know, I’ll support only Atiku because he is my godfather,” she had said.

She had also told State House reporters that she was not scared of losing her job, saying: “God gives and God takes. That is all, and I have said it all in Hausa. You know that there is an end to everything.”

The Federal Executive Council meeting is still ongoing at the moment. (Daily trust)

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