I personally like Buhari as long-time readers of this blog know; I do not believe he would want to be caught in the kind of mess that created what Soyinka described as Nigeria’s form of First Lady, “First Ladyism”, a terminology that led to over a dozen postings by me in this blog about wives of former heads of state.
When I first saw a photograph of Mrs. Aisha Buhari in Otedola’s helicopter, a photograph the latter happily posted publicly on social media while pretentiously being self-deprecating & playing regular-guyish with the simple words to the effect that Mrs. Buhari was braver than the men who are often afraid to ride in his chopper – I was flabbergasted. From the shenanigans of the “People of the so-called ‘Organized Sector” in Nigeria, Mr. Otedola would appear prominent enough to be given more than an arm’s length distance by the new president, let alone allowing his wife to hitch a ride in the guy’s chopper, UNLESS, PERHAPS, IN A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Mrs. Buhari did not look distressed; in fact, she was her radiant self.
Thanks, Senator Sanni.
TOLA.
HERE IS POINTBLANKNEWS.COM with the Senator’s very timely warning.
The All Progressives Congress’ Shehu Sani, has cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against making the First Lady office very flamboyant.
Sani, an activist representing Kaduna Central said it would be wrong and unconstitutional to allow his wife operate like wives of former presidents .
His call also came against the backdrop of the official photo of the First Lady released last week by the Presidency.
It contradicts Buhari’s campaign promise that the office would cease to exist once he steps in as president.
Mrs Buhari got in the eye of the storm when spotted with a £ 35,000 Cartier wrist watch at the inauguration.
The senator-elect spoke in Kaduna, when the executives of the Federecion Internationale De Agbogadas (FIDA) Kaduna Branch paid him a courtesy visit
He also cautioned Buhari against the business tycoons who led former President Goodluck Jonathan to economic misfortune.
“I want to advice our own party members who are in government at the executive level to be very much cautious about making the office of the First Lady flamboyant. This is because I am not aware whether the constitution of Nigeria recognized that the First Lady has an office and that she must be called Her Excellency. And it should therefore by very unconstitutional to allocate money to the office of the First Lady. It is very much wrong also for the office of the First Lady to be turned into a platform for celebrities and for all sorts of jamborees as it has always been. So, I think President Muhammadu Buhari should be very careful about that.
“I also want to warn the president to weary of the business tycoons who led former President Goodluck Jonathan to economic misfortune because now they swamping around the new president with promises of helping to resuscitate the Nigerian economy. President Buhari must set up an economic team that is made up of academics and economic experts and not businessmen and parasites in the corridors of powers whom have always used the opportunities in being in the economic team of government to formulate policies that will better their own businesses,” he said.
Sani also said that he, as a person coming from a civil society background, would resist any attempt by any government to make the poor people pay for the debt left behind by the out-gone administration.
TUESDAY, JUNE 02, 2015. 2:40 p.m. [GMT]
June 2, 2015
Nigeria