Nigeria’s First Lady has accused
a close relative of President Muhammadu Buhari of issuing a presidential
directive behind her husband.
Aisha Buhari, in a statement she
signed and sent to Daily Trust newspaper, accused Mamman Daura of issuing a
directive to a presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, not to recognise her
office.
Mr Buhari had before his election
in 2015 said he would not allow for the office of the First Lady. During Mr
Buhari’s first term in office, the presidency repeatedly referred to Mrs Buhari
as the ‘wife of the president.’
However, after the president’s
re-election, Mrs Buhari released a statement saying she should henceforth be
referred to as the First Lady and her office as the ‘Office of the First Lady’.
Since then, the presidency has
referred to Mrs Buhari as the First Lady and President Buhari has also assigned
official aides to her office.
The Controversy
On Wednesday, however, Mrs Buhari
accused Mr Daura and Mr Shehu of undermining her office.
“Nigeria’s development is hinged
on the ability of public officials to execute their mandates professionally,
and to be shining examples in their various areas of endeavor. It is not a good
sign when officials abandoned their responsibility and start clutching at
straws,” the first lady wrote in the statement she sent to Daily Trust.
Her spokesperson, Suleiman
Haruna, confirmed that Mrs Buhari authored the mail.
“As spokesperson of the
President, he has the onerous responsibility of managing the image of the
President and all the good works that he is executing in the country. Rather
than face this responsibility squarely, he has shifted his loyalty from the
President to others who have no stake in the compact that the President signed
with Nigerians on May 29, 2015 and 2019.
“To make matters worse, Mr. Shehu
has presented himself to these people as a willing tool and executioner of
their antics, from the corridors of power even to the level of interfering with
the family affairs of the President. This should not be so. The blatant
meddling in the affairs of a First Lady of a country is a continuation of the
prodigal actions of those that he serves.
“We all remember that the chief
proponent appropriated to himself and his family a part of the Presidential
Villa, where he stayed for almost 4 years and when the time came for him to
leave, he orchestrated and invaded my family’s privacy through a video circulated
by Mamman’s Daughter, Fatima, the public was given the impression that on
arrival into the country I was locked out of the villa by Mr. President. Garba
Shehu as Villa Spokesperson, knew the truth and had the responsibility to set
the records straight, but because his allegiance is somewhere else and his
loyalty misplaced, he deliberately refused to clear the air and speak for the
President who appointed him in the first place.
“Consequently, his action has
shown a complete breakdown of trust between the First Family and him.
“Mr. Shehu was privy and part of
the plan and it’s execution and he was shocked when he realized that I had
publicized my return to Nigeria on October 12, 2019 and cleared the air on the
many rumors that took over social media, a job he was supposed to do but kept
mute to cause more confusion and instability for his Principal and his family.
“Garba then, vented his anger on the National Television Authority (NTA)
Management insisting that the media crew to my office must be sacked. He
succeeded in getting them suspended for doing their job. I had to intervene to
save the innocent staff from losing their means of livelihood by involving the
Department of State Services (DSS) in order to ascertain roles played by key
actors in the saga.
“It is at this late hour that I
recall, sadly, that it was the same Garba Shehu who claimed that the government
will not allow office of the First Lady to run. He was later to confirm to one
of my aides that he was instructed to say so by Mamman Daura and not the
President. This antic attracted the anger of Nigerian women. He didn’t realize
the fact that First Lady’s office is a tradition which has become an
institution. ” Today, even without a budget, I am able to run my humanitarian
programmes. In saner climes, Garba Shehu would have resigned immediately after
going beyond his boundaries and powers.
“GARBA SHEHU NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND
THAT THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR WILL NO LONGER BE TOLERATED.
“The latest of his antics was to
wage a war on the first family through an orchestrated media campaign of
calumny by sponsoring pseudo accounts to write and defame my children and
myself.
“Based on Garba Shehu’s misguided
sense of loyalty and inability to stay true and loyal to one person or group,
it has become apparent that all trust has broken down between him and my family
due to the many embarrassments he has caused the Presidency and the first
family. We all have families to consider in our actions and therefore it is in
the best interest of all concerned for Garba Shehu to take the advice of the
authority, given to him sometimes in the first week of November, 2019,” Mrs
Buhari wrote.
Mrs Buhari has repeatedly
complained about the influence of Mr Daura in the villa and on her husband.
She once accused him and others
of hijacking her husband’s presidency and threatened not to support Mr Buhari’s
second term bid.
Mr Daura is one of the closest
confidants of the Nigerian leader and is considered one of the most powerful
unelected officials in government.
Efforts to reach Mr Shehu for his
reaction was unsuccessful Wednesday morning. Calls to his phone were unanswered
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This is the first Lady who can defend herself at anytime. Kudus Mommy.
ReplyDelete@Unknown 11:40 : When did she become your mummy?
ReplyDeleteeveryone acting out of the dictates of the constitution and we are here pandering to sentiments of Mummy? SMH...
What exactly is this internal family issue doing in our polity? Granted, Daura and Shehu are underminning her, but, how does it affect the Nigerian people? If they didnt undermine her, but were influential in making the lives of nigerians hell, would she complain? It is only when it affects us that we start noising about. No one speaks for the masses.