The informal office of the
First Lady of a country or a state is a concept extremely African. Often, the
world is assailed with the bogus appellation of the “First Lady” of Ghana, Ethiopia,
Togo or Nigeria and the rest.
In contrast, it is something of a taboo to hear of anything in the semblance of
something like “The First Lady” of America or Britain or even Brazil. For
instance they are known as “Wife of American President” or “Wife of the British
Prime Minister.”
Women are powerful as documented in the Biblical story of Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden known to all.
However, the perception of Africans is different. The average
African believes behind every successful man is the shadow of a woman. So,
African nations have seen First Ladies who wield far more tremendous influence
than their husbands whom destiny has entrusted leadership of these countries.
Nigeria shared this burden in her recent history, when former
President Goodluck Jonathan held sway in Aso Rock. His wife, Dame Patience
Jonathan was a real swagger and she was everywhere with her title of First
Lady.
But the President Muhammedu Buhari’s presidency has altered the
aura of importance hitherto attached to the “office” of The First Lady. Buhari
first stripped its bogus status by proclaiming that his wife remains “Wife of
the President” and not any First Lady of any hue.
Nevertheless, a woman or wife remains the outer ego of the man
or husband. A wife is the first to know the state of mind of her husband.
Sometimes, she even reads the countenance of her husband and predicts fairly
accurately, his mindset, anger or frustrations on any matter.
President Muhammedu Buhari’s wife, Aisha Buhari hinted of her
possession of these attributes in an interview with BBC recently. Aisha famed
for her quiet and reticent nature told the entire world that she might not be
part of her husband’s re-election campaign trail in 2019, if he fails to
shake-up his cabinet.
Aisha could sincerely mean all what she has uttered or even much
less. What cannot be taken away is her personal concern that the President
would have achieved far higher than what is currently obtained, assuming
perpetual distractors and sabs had gone on vacation.
Another feeling runs through the blunt declaration. Aisha may
have been so inspired to come this far by the deliberate inclination of some
cabal to frustrate, rather than appreciate the job her husband is doing with
all sincerity to emancipate Nigeria from its manacles of regression.
Nigerians do not know Aisha as a politician. She is not flippant
or loquacious. Even at the peak of her husband’s presidential campaigns in
2015, Aisha hardly spoke at campaign rallies.
Therefore, Aisha’s frank political statement in clear and
uncoated language is undoubtedly a response to the ceaseless pricking of an
inner pain and the frustrations she shares with her husband, President Buhari.
She believes Buhari is unduly “tortured” for accepting to lead Nigeria to
redeem the lost glory of his fatherland. If she were an astute politician, she
would have presented the idea differently.
At the risk of anything, it is deducible that Aisha is
admonishing Nigerians to stand up and support the President to reclaim their
country from some desperate and powerful political cabal bent on stalling his
efforts to re-invent Nigeria. But as a political naiveté, Aisha’s sight of her
husband’s innocence, but the insistence on his demonization, could not restrain
the out-pouring of these emotions as plainly as possible; and to her eyes, the
remedy is cabinet shake-up.
Aisha stated the obvious that Buhari’s government is hugely
peopled by senior government officials whom he cannot vouch for their
character, integrity and those who do not even share the vision of the ruling
APC “change” agenda. But they made the cabinet because of the influence wielded
by a “few People.”
Interpreted differently, Aisha indirectly punctures this
category of appointees as the saboteurs or sabs in the system, frustrating
everything and undermining the efforts of Mr. President to salvage Nigeria.
A wife of many decades stands a chance to know her husband’s
political allies and associates, particularly someone like Buhari, who has
spent years politicking. But most members of Buhari’s cabinet are new faces to
her, though she married the President 27 years ago.
She is peremptorily prophesying that if the present trend
continues and the masses of Nigeria fails to rise en masse to checkmate this
cabal, in 2019, the country would still be the shadow it has always been in the
last 16 years.
There are cogent lessons to be learnt in Aisha Buhari’s
utterances. Indisputably, it is impossible for Buhari to know every member of
his cabinet back to back because, politics in Africa, like elsewhere is a
product of negotiations. It only becomes a problem, when your cabinet is
overshadowed by strange bed-fellows and worse still, those who do not share in
your vision.
The few members of Buhari’s cabinet known to him and who have
contributed exceptionally to the success of the administration have been under
severe antagonism, blackmail and other forms of attacks orchestrated by the
powerful cabal.
But the economy is in recession and the naira in a free fall
against the US dollar, but none of them deem it worthy to query the competence
of the immediate government officials overseeing these segments of governance
and so the rhythm goes.
Certainly, President Buhari is not a power drunk, but targets
success in whatever he does. Like he said, his wife who is not a politician and
she is confined to domestic affairs. But the message has been delivered anyway.
And despite the odds staked against him by the opposition of
whatever pretensions, he is steadily conquering the obstacles and emerging
victorious. The “thank you” the President and his family expects from Nigerians
is their massive support for the rediscovery of Nigeria of their cherished
dreams; dreams long gambled in the air.
Okanga writes from Agila, Benue State.
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