The BBC Hausa Service is under intense pressure from President Muhammadu Buhari and members of his kitchen cabinet to pre-empt broadcast of the interview granted by his wife, Aisha Buhari.
The interview is due for broadcast on Friday, but the President is said to have reached out to his wife, who is currently in London, to stop granting further interviews to the media.
In excerpts that have been widely reported in the media, Mrs. Buhari is quoted as saying that the President had ditched those who really worked for his victory in the 2015 election and is instead focusing on those that didn’t participate.
Listen to NewsRescue exclusive clip:
The First Lady was expressing frustration with members of President Buhari’s kitchen cabinet, particularly his nephew, Mamman Daura; and his powerful chief of Staff, Abba Kyari. They are widely-held as having shunted aside those who worked tirelessly for President Buhari to come to power.
She also said the President did not know a majority of his ministers before appointing them to office.
SaharaReporters has also learnt that neither Daura and Kyari voted for Buhari in the last election. A source knowledgeable about the inner situation at the Presidency said neither man possesses a voter’s card or is registered as a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Mrs. Buhari and other members of the APC are frustrated with the President because he has refused to make the changes expected of his government, and continues to empower his nephew to run roughshod on issues of governance. Mr. Daura is reportedly so powerful that Buhari’s ministers have to get his approval to get funds released for their projects.
Our sources gave the example of Daura’s influence when the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, got funds released to him for the Rio Olympics 2016 after he met and received the blessing of Mr. Daura.
Also recently, President Buhari promised several persons who complained to him about the corrupt elements in his government of plans to make changes, but he never did. Of particular importance are Mr. Kyari and the Secretary to the Government, Babachir Lawal, who are accused of corrupt practices. Also involved is Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, on account of his handling of fiscal issues.
President Buhari has disappointed many in his handling of these and other officers, and his wife of 25 years seems to be leading a revolt by voicing the concern of a majority of the president’s loyalists who feel he has mismanaged the country and the goodwill that followed him into office a year and a half ago. “What I am afraid for them is the rebellion of 15 million people,” says Mrs. Buhari at the end of the excerpt available to the public.
Aisha Buhari’s BBC Interview Prelude Exclusively reported First By NewsRescue
- Says she does not know the people appointed and they did not participate in bringing in the Buhari government
- “I am afraid of a rebellion of 15 million Nigerians who voted for Buhari”
NewsRescue
In a two minute BBC Hausa program to be fully aired on Friday, the wife of Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari is heard berating her husband’s actions which she said are leading to disappointment and frustration.
In the short preview clip, Aisha Buhari is heard criticizing her husband for abandoning the real people who campaigned and fought for his election and appointing people who did nothing towards change. She said that of 50 appointees, only 5 fought for change. She responded to questions, that whether the president knew or not this is the reality. She stated her fears of a rebellion of the millions of masses who voted for president Buhari.
Translation:
‘BBC:‘ Our listeners, before we continue, this is an announcement (interlude). It is almost 2 years since the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari administration. But some people are complaining that they do not understand which direction the government is facing. This same sentiment was expressed by the closest person to the President.
First Lady’s voice: “Some people have been dividing the heads (causing disunity) amongst the members of APC, and this is giving us problems at the moment. This is because many in the party feel they were the ones who worked for the emergence of the President, but they were nowhere to be found today. Those who did not undergo any trouble, those who do not even have voter’s card, are the ones sitting pretty well on top of everybody…What I am afraid for them is the rebellion of 15 million people… Whether the President know this or not, those who voted for him know. There is nothing I am going to tell him, after all, he can see. Of all the people he appointed, assuming they are 50, if you ask him; he didn’t know more than 5. Even me I don’t know them, and I have been with him (the President) for 27 years”.
Asked whether the President told her of his 2019 plans, the First Lady said she wasn’t told anything. “But I have already taken my own decision”, she said.
There has been increasing discontent with the policies and politics of the president of late with increasing sharp divisions in the nation and within the APC ruling party. Yorubas particularly have been quite upset, with the Tinubu Oyegun wars, more so with Buhari causing the entire Nigeria to stand with him against Senate president Bukola Saraki and then appearing to go behind everyone’s back to embrace the very same corrupt person.
Related Quran Verse
Quran 4:135: O you who believe, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah , even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted.
