TROUBLE IN PARADISE? Aisha Buhari leaves Aso Rock over cracks in Presidency

There are indications that the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari may not be pleased with recent happenings in Aso Rock Villa, the seat of power.

Sources within the presidency said the first lady had abandoned the Villa for about two months.

They said she left the country in protest against “certain developments” at the presidency.

It was learnt that the first lady, who left the country early August to Saudi Arabia for hajj (Muslim pilgrimage), had decided not to return to the country.

Sources also said although Muslim participants to the hajj exercise had returned home, the president’s wife did not, preferring instead to leave for London.

“Mama (first lady) is in London. It was from Saudi Arabia that she went to London,” one source said. Asked when she is likely to return, the source said, “I don’t know. All I know is that she is in London”

Her absence became obvious after she did not appear alongside her husband at some recent official functions.

Daily Trust reports that she was conspicuously absent during the Eid-El-Kabir celebration in Daura, Katsina State.

She was conspicuously missing, when the president recently hosted many dignitaries including Guinean president, Alpha Conde, during the Sallah celebrations.

Recall that in early July, the First Lady supported her husband to host the Ambassador Extraordinary for Nigeria-Niger Cooperation, with his wife, Fatima at the State House.

It was also gathered, that Dr. Hajo Sani, the Senior Special Assistant to the president on administration, had recently been representing the president’s wife at public events,

For instance, on September 25, she was represented at an event of the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD), on the sidelines of the 74th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), New York by Dr. Hajo.

A statement from the Director of Information to Aisha Buhari, said the event was attended by first ladies of Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Niger Republic.

President Buhari was one of the world leaders that attended the 74th UNGA.

Meanwhile, findings on the fist lady’s Twitter handle @aishabuhari revealed that she remained active on the social media platform.

Six days ago she retweeted a post on the war against corruption.

Earlier, Aisha had raised the alarm over the deteriorating security situation in the country. During a visit to the home state of the president, Aisha, who hails from Adamawa State, said it would be unfortunate for people who voted wholeheartedly for her husband to be allowed to be killed unnecessarily by bandits.

She said people must speak out as the killings were worrisome and that if not tackled they could end up consuming everyone.

“When the Katsina SSG spoke out, I sent it to all security outfits in the country. I told them it’s either they go and help out or allow us all to be killed. It is a must for people to come out and speak. Anything that is not right, people should say it, no matter what,” she said.

Four days to the swearing in of her husband for a second term, the first lady faulted the implementation of the federal government’s Social Investment Programmes (SIP).

At an interactive program for women at the State House, Abuja, she said the program which had gulped N470.8bn, had failed in the North.

The SIPs are the N-Power, Conditional Cash Transfers, National Home-Grown School Feeding and Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programmes (GEEP). Annually, the federal government budgets N500bn for social investment. However, in 2016, only N79.98bn was released, 2017 N140bn and in 2018, N250.4bn was released.

Previously, she had attacked her husband’s administration, and drew worldwide attention when she criticised him in an October 2016 interview with the BBC, saying she feared his administration was veering off from its mandate to the people.

She also expressed doubt that she would support him if he sought re-election unless he implemented immediate changes in personnel and policies.

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