Aisha Buhari, wife of Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, has said those who did nothing for the emergence of her husband as president have taken over the government in Aso Rock.
“Many people have started dividing the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC and that is really making us feel not too good,” Mrs. Buhari said in an interview with BBC Hausa.
A part of the interview was aired Tuesday, October 11, 2016. The full interview will be aired on Friday.
The first lady said those behind the crisis felt aggrieved that they laboured for, and helped the APC to power in 2015, but received no compensation.
“They are doing that because they felt they laboured for the party and deserved to be compensated,” Mrs. Buhari said.
“People who do not have voters card are those who are given appointments and enjoying the government.”
Her remarks come in the wake of a clash between a former governor Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, and the national chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun.
The latest infighting stemmed from a disagreement over how the party’s candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial election in Ondo State emerged.
Mr. Tinubu, in a scathing statement, accused Mr. Odigie-Oyegun of having manipulated the primaries.
Mrs. Buhari said on the development as it affects those who aided her husband’s election: “This worries us a lot now.
Asked whether President Buhari knows those causing the problems for his government, she: “Whether he knows or he doesn’t know, those who voted for him know. There is nothing I will tell him. He can see.”
Mrs. Buhari said the power tussle resonated in varied ways, especially because majority of her husband’s cabinet members were not known to him – meaning they were foisted as part of the power grab.
She added: “Among all the people he selected, if he is asked among 50 people, he does not know 45. I don’t know them despite staying with him for 27 years”.
For those behind the crisis, which was affecting the administration, she said “What I am afraid for them is the rebellion of 15 million people,” in reference to the number of people who voted for the president.
While several interpretations of Mrs. Buhari’s outbursts have been linked to the unfolding power play in the APC, a fresh dimension of Mrs. Buhari’s interview indicates it may be a veiled reference to concerns over the overbearing influence of Mamman Daura on President Buhari’s government.
In June, it an investigative report revealed that Mrs. Buhari has been knocked out of key decisions relating to the well-being of her husband, President Buhari.
According to the report, a new cabal led by Mamman Daura, a long-time confidant of President Buhari has assumed the role of a “presidential think tank” on very key decisions of governance, including matters relating to President Buhari’s health and personal well being.
Daura, played no visible role in the run up to the 2015 presidential election which got Buhari elected into office.
