THE FAMILY BUSINESS.

Nigeria's first lady, Aisha Buhari.

Since the present president was sworn in in May 2015, a lot of dramas had been ensuing from the number one family in the county-the president’s  families (both the ones in Aso Rock and Daura).

These dramas began with personal dispute between the president and the first lady. Nigerians were first made to know that between the president and his beautiful wife, there is an element of misunderstanding which has not been resolved in private corners of their bedroom. For instance, the president in 2015 said his wife is meant for the kitchen and the bedroom. By insinuation, he meant that his wife has no little or no idea about governance and politics and as such incapable of making meaningful contributions to the ways things should be done.

In 2018, Mrs. Aisha Buhari shared posts and videos criticizing her husband on her titter and Instagram pages where Isah Misau, a senator from the Northern part of Nigerian was calling the president a lame duck who was a powerless over the control that the cabal at Aso Rock has on him. The first lady corroborated this view and even opined that her husband (Present Muhammadu Buhari) doesn’t know 45 out of 50 people that he has appointed for one political office or the other and that she didn’t know them either. Well, some could say she is just being jealous she has been largely left out of the appointments and portfolios. Nevertheless, I think there is an iota of truth in what she was saying. First ladies in Nigeria have always been known to be the real vice presidents to their husbands and in some case (Like Umar Musa Yar Adua’s), the real president.

During 2019 election, I watched a video clip on YouTube where the president and his wife were casting their votes in one of the polling centers in Daura, Katstina state, the home of the president. After casting his vote, the president was checking his wife’s ballot paper to make sure that she had voted for him. In this case, the president is breaking the law.

President Muhammadu Buhari, peeping into his wife's ballot paper in the last election. Location: Daura,  Katstina State. 

 Nigeria is presently practicing secret ballot system and as such, no one- not even the president has the right to check who someone has voted for even if the person is his wife but everyone turned a blind eye to that. To an ordinary observer, what happened in the video was just a normal family banter but it was more than that. It shows that the president knows how strong willed his wife could be and he wanted to be sure that she did not vote for his opponent, (Atiku Abubakar) to cause a sort of everlasting scandal for him and his administration.

In October 2016, in an interview with BBC, the first lady criticized her husband’s administration, pointing out that the administration is veering off its mandate. She warned that she may not support her husband’s second term bid if he did not take drastic measures change his policies and people in his administration as soon as possible.

Not long ago, she also attacked her husband’s aide, Garba Sheu, saying that he had switched his allegiance and loyalty from the president to some people in Daura who are controlling him. All these outbursts are viewed with skepticism by various concerned Nigerians. She made several angry comments like 

“Garba Shehu has gone beyond his boundaries!”

The most recent and most intriguing drama happened a couple of weeks back when the first lady was captured in a video in outburst at her supposed in laws. She was accusing these in laws of being responsible for the appointment of the people that are husband (the president) is using in his administration. According to her, thirty five out of forty people in her husband’s administration are not known by her or her husband. Later, she came out to publicly confirm that she was actually the woman in the video and that the video was not doctored. No one is saying anything about this but I could feel the frustration, the anger and the rage behind the action. I don’t know what people think about the first lady but she has my respect from day one as the first lady.

Contrary to the Nigerian’s expectation of a woman as the shadow of her husband, the first lady had been a very outspoken and no nonsense woman who despite being the first lady never condone or sweep under the carpet things that she thinks are not properly done by her husband’s administration. This is a kind of woman Nigeria needs, not a sycophant who only dances to the tunes and rhythms of her husbands and family’s dictatorship!

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