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KITCHEN TALK: How Buhari may decide Aisha’s political fate

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KITCHEN TALK: How Buhari may decide Aisha’s political fate

There are concerns that Aisha Buhari’s political fate may be hanging in the balance days after her recent outburst in which she subtly called on her husband, President Buhari, to effect a cabinet reshuffle.

The first lady in an interview with the BBC had lamented that President Buhari does not know 90 per cent of those that constitute his cabinet, and that they are mostly people that did not support his campaign nor voted for him.

According to her, some of these people were “sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position.”

The first lady also stated that if things continue the way they are, she may not support or campaign for him if he decides to seek re-election in 2019.

“He is yet to tell me (if he’ll seek re-election) 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”, she stated.

Reacting, the president said, “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room.”

The exchange within the first family has thrown up posers as to what political fate awaits the first lady, and her office.

Given the religious orientation of the average northerner, where President Buhari comes from, a wife is mostly confined to the background, and is not to be publicly heard, or seen so much. And it came as a surprise to many, the role Aisha played during the 2015 campaigns, but they chalked it down to political necessity, for her husband to gain access to Aso Rock.

However, her outburst has thrown many off balance, sparking speculations that she might just be confined to the background after all, and her public appearances and utterances curtailed.

Already, her interview has sparked fierce condemnation in Kano State, with a Muslim cleric, Shiek Ismail Illyasu Mangu calling on security agencies to arrest the first lady “because her interview is capable of inciting millions of Nigerians against her husband”.

Shiek Mangu who spoke before thousands of worshipers immediately after the Jumaat prayer, at Jamaatul Izalatul Bid’ah Mosque in Farm Centre, Kano, further said “We are sad about the interview granted by the wife of the President. We believe that opposition members in the country are using her against the government. Her statement is unfair and capable of inciting violence. It is a threat to the peace of the country and we do hope the security agencies will immediately arrest her”.

Read also: BUHARI TO AISHA: You belong to the kitchen

During his campaign days, Buhari as presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had suggested that he may scrap the office of the first lady if voted as president, since the role is not constitutionally recognized.

He promised that he would not have an office for the First Lady should he emerge victorious at the election. “The Office of the First Lady is not in the constitution, so there’s no official role for them,” Buhari had said.”

However, after her husband’s inauguration as president, Mrs. Buhari dropped the title of “First Lady” and adopted the title of ‘Wife of the President’, but still operates with her staff out of the office of the First Lady, located beside the official residence of the president.

With the latest developments, many are of the view that the president may just be tempted to totally scrap the office, by whatever name, using his campaign promise as a ready excuse, in order not to run fowl, or ignite the wrath of the womenfolk, who have started queuing behind Aisha after his ‘kitchen’ comment.

Expectedly, Buhari’s top aides are rolling out strategies to contain the backlash from the President’s perceived mis-kick. Garba Shehu, Buhari’s Senior Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, has since called for understanding, describing the let-off as a joke and stating that the President has utmost respect for the women folk.

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