In
the light of the recent fallout between President Muhammadu Buhari and
his wife, Godwin Etakibuebu, has examined what Aisha's outburst may
really mean.
President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife, Aisha
Aisha, grand-daughter of Nigeria’s first minister of defence
[Mohammadu Ribadu] was married to retired General Muhammadu Buhari at a
very tender age.
As the paragon of beauty clocks forty five years early this year
[having being born on 17th of February, 1971 – as we were told], she has
stayed glued to the husband for 27 years.
Having been married to the man at such tender age, with such level
of undiluted beauty and sophisticated educational background, Aisha, no
doubt, had captured the husband in totality; spirit, body and soul,
over the years.
At forty five she is at the prime of life while the husband; who is
above seventy years of age, is at the declining point of life, going by
the naturally acceptable rules of “diminishing returns”.
One of the duos, ipso facto, would have more mastery knowledge of
the home than the other. The advantage of such comparative differences
between the two is likely to weigh more in favour of Madam Aisha than
Oga Buhari.
So, when Madam spoke to the BBC about the type of government her
husband runs in Nigeria, with damning consequences of what the husband
should expect from her in 2019, Nigerians need to cash cold for three
reasons. Yes, we should analysis her language, which to me, were very
strong and harsh but revealing, than the husband’s response, which of
course, reveals the actual Muhammadu Buhari; a man holding no hope for
the corporate Nigeria.
One, this beautiful home-mender might actually be feeling the pains
and agony of over ninety per cent Nigerians; who are dying from the
atrocious and wicked manifestation of the most wicked government in the
annals of Nigeria’s history. If this is the true position, it means
that, unlike her husband, she is in touch with Nigerians – that will be
good news and hope for us.
Two, it could be that Aisha Buhari has become most uncomfortable
with the way her husband betrayed his most accomplished benefactor;
Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his camp, in distribution of the national cake
through means of patronage, which is inclusive of appointments, that she
needed to speak out. It is on record that Aisha Buhari appreciated the
role Asiwaju Bola Tinubu played in making it possible for her husband’s
emergence as president in a speech she gave in Lagos on May 18, 2015.
May be, with that background of appreciation, it might have been
nauseating for her to see an emerging cabal now harvesting from where
it did not plant or sow. If this is so, it means that this woman is
naturally not an ingrate.
Three, her outburst might as well be for another reason entirely
different from the two given above. She could have as well be doing the
work of a “faithful and dedicated town crier”, performing the duty of
the biblical John the Baptist in “announcing the coming of Jesus
Christ”. She could be on a mission of flying the kite in telling
Nigerians that the husband would still be “young enough” to continue a
second tenure in 2019. This is not impossible, given the fact that
politics is a game of manipulation and permutation.
And Aisha Buhari is brilliant and erudite enough to operate these
two lines of manipulation and permutation in luring Nigerians into false
senses of security by selling this dummy of a “divided home”
whereas she is actually preparing the road [2019 – 2023] for her
husband. If that is her mission, then Nigerians are in greater danger
than ever.
For now, we need to interpret what she said more than what she did
not say and also interpret the husband’s response because while the
former’s statement, on the surface is encouraging, it is the latter’s
response that jeopardised wisdom and comfort for Nigerians. “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room”,
he started and thereafter reminded the wife that he ran for the
presidency three times before succeeding on the fourth time, as if Aisha
was not with him all this times.
He then threw the devastative bomb, like the true soldier he is, by saying “so
l claim superior knowledge over her and the rest of the opposition
because in the end l have succeeded. It is not easy to satisfy the whole
Nigerian opposition parties or to participate in the government”.
I beg to be different from Garba Shehu [the president’s special
senior assistant on media], who claimed that the President was just
cracking a joke. It must be that Garba does not know the meaning of joke
or would not understand one when it is taken too far into the border of
absurdity. How could such offensive “launched missile” be a joke when
the President, with all ferocious audacity, grouped his wife with his
political enemies, by saying that “so l claim superior knowledge over her and the rest of the opposition because in the end l have succeeded”.
The language of the president against his wife was so abhorring
that the German leader [Chancellor Angela Merkel]; another woman of
substance, standing at his side, gave him a short glare and then
laughed. That “short glare” and “laugh” spoke millions of interpretation
about the quality of President Buhari and the Nigeria he governs.
The German leader would have concluded in her analytical mind,
within that moment of President Buhari’s confused and derailed
demagogue’s action, more so when he classified his wife as belonging
with the opposition parties that Nigeria was in serious trouble.
President Buhari’s voyage of discovery into his own cumbersome mind has
revealed, once again, the nature and character of the man in deficient
political endeavour. His judgement in limiting the sagacious usefulness
of his wife, in functionality, to the “kitchen, living room and the
other room” needs to be urgently evaluated further.
**************
- Mr. Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran journalist, wrote from Lagos.
No comments:
Post a Comment