‘Cabals: Nigeria’s Enemies Holding President Buhari Captive’-Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari cries out on BBC Hausa Interview
*Vows: ‘If this Trend Continues, I Will Not Vote for You in 2019 Elections’
*Regrets: ’45-50% of My Husband Appointees are Not Known to Me or Mr President After My 27 Years of Marriage to him’
* Lament: ‘If There is No Correction, Women Will Not Cast their Vote for You or APC Party’
*Says: ‘I Am Happy Sanity, Safety Now Restored to North East Nigeria’
*Wonders: ‘Why Appoint People who Shares No Vision of APC into Political Positions?’
BY MUMUNI AHMED/DEPUTY EDITOR (POLITICS), ABUJA
IN A daring and no-hold barred interview, Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari has revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari means well for Nigeria in all ramifications, but there are strange-bed fellows, spoilers who are cabals presently manipulating his administration by ensuring he appoints elites who are not members of All Progressives Congress (APC) into ministerial positions and other top government agencies as helmsmen.
Aisha made this stunning revelation during a recent interview conducted on British Broadcasting Station (BBC) Hausa Service. Her outburst shows there are discordant tunes playing in Aso Rock and all are certainly not not well within the Buhari household.
Without any pretense, Buhari’s wife warned that she may not back Mr President at the next election coming up in 2019 unless he shakes up his government by ensuring round pegs are in round holes, not square pegs in round holes.
In the BBC interview with Naziru Mikailu, Nigeria’s First Lady said the president “does not know” most of the top officials he has appointed, suggesting the ‘appointees are strangers’. She suggested the government had been hijacked, saying a “few people” were behind presidential appointments.
“Aisha’s resort to go public with her fears is for Nigerians not to cast any blame on Mr President, but condemn the actions of these minority cabals who takes pleasure in holding every government in power into bondage. Her confession confirms the level of discontent with the president’s leadership, says the BBC’s Naziru in the capital, Abuja.
“The Nigerian economy, battered by low global oil prices and a currency devaluation, officially entered recession in August for the first time in a decade. Oil sales account for 70% of government income. The president famously remarked at his inauguration that he “belongs to nobody and belongs to everybody”.
In the interview with from BBC Hausa, Mrs Buhari said: “The president does not know 45 out of 50 of the people he appointed and I don’t know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years.”
She said people who did not share the vision of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were now appointed to top posts because of the influence a “few people” wield.
The Cabals-Enemies of Nigeria
Her words: “Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position.” Asked to name those who had hijacked the government, she refused, saying: “You will know them if you watch television.”
Is Buhari in Charge of Governance?
Asked if the president was in charge, she said: “That is left for the people to decide.”
On 2019 Election
Mrs Buhari in a point blank interview revealed Mr President had not told her whether he would contest the 2019 election, though her grandfather was Nigeria’s first defence minister.
“He is yet to tell me but I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again.”
Twitter abuzz on Nigerians’ reactions
Truly, Nigerians have been weighing in on Twitter to give their judgement on the First Lady’s frank interview: when asked what she regarded as the government’s major achievement, she said it was to improve security in the north-east where militant Islamist group Boko Haram has waged an insurgency since 2009.
Aisha said: “No-one is complaining about being attacked in their own homes. Thankfully everyone can walk around freely, go to places of worship, etc. Even kids in Maiduguri have returned to schools.” For the records, Buhari was elected last year with a promise to tackle corruption and nepotism in government.
