Of late the media have been entertaining us on the public spat between
His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari and his Wife, Hajiyya Aisha
Buhari over the latter's public interview with UK based British
Broadcasting Commission, BBC. While Nigerians were trying to understand
the motive behind Mrs Aisha's interview, Mr President responded by
reminding her that "she belongs to the kitchen". This subject I'm am
writing on.
1. Where Does Aisha Belong?
While referring
to the position of Dame Patience Jonathan the wife of then President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in July 2013, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka
insisted that she was nothing but "Domestic Appendage" of her husband,
the President and possess neither power nor office that is
constitutionally recognized. President Buhari in his interview reechoed
the sentiment of prof Soyinka by insisting that his wife Aisha belongs
to his kitchen, bedroom and other rooms but not the government.
First
thing first, I am in agreement with Mr President's position that his
spouse holds no office in government (though I have no business in
discoursing whether she belongs to the kitchen or bedroom). The Nigeria
constitution neither recognized any office for spouses of officials of
government nor allocated any power to them. Though being a spouse to the
President and other senior government officials comes with some
unofficial benefits, those benefits remains privileges and not right. It
is the President, and not his family was given a mandate by Nigerians
to run the affairs of the state for a given period of time. The
President along with the Vice President owns the government, and appoint
other officers to perform some specific tasks as constitutionally
prescribed. Neither their spouses nor any family member have any right
to share powers with them.
Haven said that, I find it ridiculous
that Mr President just realised that his Wife is not an officer of
government. This is the same woman that the President allocated office
to, appointed Aides to work with her and allocated funds to. The
President should not expect Nigerians to clap for him for not
"recognizing the office" that doesn't exist after he has spent millions
of our scarce resources to pay her Aides and run her "office".
In fact, the President has only indicted himself that he has been upholding and encouraging illegality since May 29, 2015.
2. Muhammadu Buhari Promised Not To Operate Office of First Lady But...:
In
an exclusive interview with Weekly Trust (in Kaduna) in December 2014,
President Buhari as part of his campaign promises pledged not to operate
the Office of First Lady because the constitution does not recognise
it, and also because “There is the Ministry of Women Affairs, and so on”
to represent the interest of women in government(cabinet)(DailyTrust
December 26, 2014). Surprisingly, on January 2015, a month after making
that statement, his wife, Hajjiya Aisha "tactically" countered him by
saying that “If the office of the first lady is constitutionally
recognised, he will not tamper with it, but if it is not, that’s
okay."(PUNCH Jan 24, 2015), and she went on to sermonise Nigerians how
she would operate the "office" as wife of the President (tactically
avoiding the First Lady nomenclature).
Upon assumption to office,
Buhari and his wife not only operated the office as if it was
recognized but craftily changed the title from."First Lady" to "Wife of
the President".
Therefore, Buhari not only breached the constitution but also went against his campaign promise. A betrayal of trust.
3. The First Couple Should Stop Making Caricature of Themselves In Public:
There
is something funny about Mr President, he is fond of making ridiculous
remarks and demarketing Nigeria through international Press.
Coincidentally, his own wife that was supposed to defend him in public
but criticise him in private chose a foreign medium to lash at her
husband and his kitchen cabinet. It is however funny that Mr President
that is expected to respond to his wife via phone call to her line also
decided on responding to her through foreign press.
What kind of
couple is this? Even if Aisha's role is in the kitchen, won't it be best
for Mr President to privately remind her that she shouldn't interfere
in his government? What is the wisdom in the action of Mrs Buhari that
is supposed to be a source of support to her husband? Why is Mr
President and Aisha embarrassing themselves as couple? It is even
painful that the world will now see the level of communication between
Nigeria's first family.
Is Mr President saying that he is
clueless in the home front? If President Buhari can't control his wife
and family, how then is he expected to handle the complicated affairs of
Nigeria?
4. Nigerians Are Not Interested In Aso Rock's Power Play:
Dear
Mrs Buhari, Nigerians voted your husband to deliver on a mandate(which
he has largely failed to do). Nobody is interested in who and who makes
up his kitchen cabinet or who calls the shots in Aso Rock. It is not our
business.
In fact, there is no government or institutions
without inner caucus, internal politics and power play. Mrs Aisha should
not drag Nigerians into Aso Rock's politics, looking for cheap public
sympathy because she lost out in the power game. Please Ma, keep your
wailing to yourselves and your cliques.
5. Mrs Aisha Didn't Say Anything New:
I
was glad when Mrs Aisha admitted that the government has failed, but I
also know that patriotic Nigerians in their tens of millions have been
shouting this. Mrs Aisha stated that she won't campaign for her husband
if he should seek reelection in 2019, but I know that whether she
campaigns or not, her husband will leave Aso Rock in 2019 because he has
failed Nigerians. No going back.
However, Nigerians will be
highly grateful to Mr President and his wife if they desist from
responding to each other in public and allow Mr President face the
business of governance that he was elected to do until his time elapses
in 2019.
I will end this piece by congratulating the 21
returnee Chibok school girls and their family for the reunion despite
the challenges they went through. It is my prayer that other innocent
girls are returned back.
May God Bless Us All and Bless Nigeria
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