FACT CHECK: Did Aisha Buhari say her husband failed Nigerian women?

CLAIM
A news report by People’s Gazette, an online newspaper attributed a claim to Aisha Buhari, the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari. The report was headlined: “My husband has failed Nigerian women: Aisha Buhari”

CONCLUSION
The claim by People’s Gazzete that Aisha Buhari accused the president of failing Nigerian women is MISLEADING. The headline is merely a click-bait.

FULL TEXT:
The media house in the headline of its report credited Aisha Buhari to have said that her husband failed Nigerian women. However, no sentence nor paragraph in the body of the story reflects the claim.

The first paragraph reads, “The First Lady, Federal Republic of Nigeria has called for more concerted action towards better recognition of the contributions that women make in national development, saying power-sharing arrangement must reflect this both within political parties and in government.

“She was speaking while receiving the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, Dr. Jewel Howard-Taylor at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday 17 January 2022.”

It went on to quote the First Lady as saying, “From the Political Party level to Government, within the Executive and Legislature the sharing arrangement is abysmal and something must be done to change this narrative. We have to adopt better strategies to maximise elective positions and other opportunities for Nigerian women.”

Read also: FACT CHECK: Was Buhari elected via direct primary in 2015?

The news report was of the first lady’s meeting with the Vice President of Liberia, Dr. jewel Howard-Taylor at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The Liberian VP was in Nigeria for the maiden edition of APC National Progressive Women Conference. According to the report, both women called for improved participation of women in affairs of government.

VERIFICATION
The headline is misleading, as the body of the report does not reflect in any way, the information in the headline. See the link.

While there are no audio or video recording of Mrs Buhari’s remark, quotes from the first lady’s comment on women participation, culled from other media reports show that she never made such accusation against the President.

Here are links to reports from the same event culled from reports by PM News, Ripples Nigeria and ThisDay.

Aisha Buhari only advocated for improved Political participation by women. She urged female members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to adopt new strategies to ensure that they are involved in decision making processes in the country.

By Oluwatobi Odeyinka…

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