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President Buhari may have already apologized to his wife, maybe in “the other room”, but what about an apology to women in general, especially the Naa Shikas?
President Buhari may have already apologized to his wife, maybe in “the other room”, but what about an apology to women in general, especially the Naa Shikas?

President Buhari’s message

Of course President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has no way of knowing it, but when it was announced that he had won the nail-biting general election in March last year, he instantly acquired an ardent fan in my home.

Apparently having been listening to the conversations of the adults in the household, and having watched him on television, my then seven-year-old granddaughter, Naa Shika, decided that he was her man. 

She even drafted a congratulatory letter in her own way, which she insisted I should get published in a newspaper so that the new President could read it and know that she was his friend. The fact that the publication would not be in a Nigerian newspaper was clearly not her concern.

The letter, a copy of which is still on my computer, said: 

“Dear General Buhari,

“I am glad you are the president. I hope you rule Nigeria (A.K.A.Abuja) well.

“Thank you.

“My name is Naa Shika Pappoe.

“My age 7 years.”

Fortunately for me, given the attention span of seven-year-olds, she soon forgot about her letter and so did I. That is, until last week when President and Mrs Buhari made international headlines in a dramatic marital row that probably not even the most imaginative script writers of Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry, could have produced. 

First came an astonishing BBC report on October 14 that “Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife has warned him that she may not back him at the next election unless he shakes up his government.

Mrs Aisha Buhari said the President “does not know” most of the top officials he has appointed. She suggested the government had been hijacked, saying “a few people” were behind presidential appointments.

Mr Buhari, 73, and a retired Major-General of the Nigerian army, was elected last year with a promise to tackle corruption and nepotism in government.

In the interview with Mikailu from BBC Hausa, Mrs Buhari said: “The President does not know 45 out of 50 of the people he has appointed and I don’t know them either”, despite being his wife for 27 years.

She said people who did not share the vision of the ruling All Progressives Congress were now appointed to top posts because of the influence of a “few people”.

The First Lady, who at 45 is 23 years her husband’s junior, is on record as having campaigned vigorously for her husband during last year’s elections across Nigeria.

Then, just as people were trying to understand the import of her mind-boggling comments, no doubt with some wondering if there would be a swift denial, the usual ‘I-was-quoted-out-of-context’ excuse by political figures, there came an even more astounding development. It was a counterattack from President Buhari, all the way from Germany where he was on an official visit.

The President responded to his wife’s criticism with a shocking snub “by saying that she belongs in his kitchen” adding a pointed reference to another place where he thinks women belong: “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 BBC said that “Mr Buhari was standing next to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who glared at him.”

Furthermore, Mr Buhari said that having run for president three times and having succeeded at the fourth attempt, he could “claim superior knowledge over her”.

I recollect that such was the euphoria reported from many parts of the world about the Buhari victory, that it’s not surprising that  some of it rubbed off on at least one little girl in Ghana. 

And the credible elections feat accomplished by the Chairman of Nigeria’ Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, earned him worldwide praise; and continuing calls for other African electoral commissions to emulate his strategies. 

Therefore, I’m sure that Buhari admirers all over the continent have been praying for him to succeed so that other African countries could take a cue from his administration.

However, President Buhari’s reaction to the frustrations aired publicly by his wife must have caused many to reassess their view of him. 

Undoubtedly some will question Mrs Buhari’s decision to go public. However, to me her action indicates a wife’s deep despair. 

I view her comments as coming from a wife frustrated because her husband will not listen to her, forgetting that in her position she may see, hear or find out things that the President would not know about. 

More importantly, I also side with the view that she took her extreme action as a way to protect her husband’s image. It was probably meant to tell the Nigerian public that her husband means well but maybe he has put his trust in the wrong people so they shouldn’t judge him harshly. 

I see it as a plea for her husband to listen to her. 

Unfortunately, evidently he didn’t see it that way. He presumably saw it as a challenge to his authority and resorted to the most hurtful thing a man can say to a woman: your place is only to cook, look after the house and bear children.

I read from President Buhari’s biography that he has a number of daughters and I know he has appointed women to his cabinet. And, wondrous of all, his anti-women response to his wife was made while standing next to Chancellor Merkel, one of the most respected, pace-setting and brave leaders currently on the world stage – and a woman.

What is President Buhari telling the world’s women in politics; those heading families; the wives who go out to work; all the others who are asserting themselves side by side with their male colleagues? What about all the women who are running businesses or jointly with their partners?     

Marital quarrels being what they are, President Buhari may have already apologized to his wife – maybe in “the other room” – but what about an apology to women in general, especially the Naa Shikas?

At the time she drafted her letter, my granddaughter was aiming to be a lawyer or doctor when she grows up.

So what is President’ Buhari’s message to her, his unknown friend? That there is no point, and she should be content to just aim for a man’s “other room”?

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