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| Mrs. Aisha Buhari |
Public communication is one of the most delicate challenges that people in public life face, either in the corporate or the public sector. Many people suddenly find themselves in high places, and they become a source of news, a potential interview subject, and they get chased around by journalists and other media figures who want a story, in fact, not just a story, but a scoop. I used to explain in communication coaching classes and to the bosses whose media I managed, at one point or the other that they should never feel obliged to say things they do not want to say. No matter how aggressive the journalist may be, they should be careful what they say.
A journalist would make you feel at
home, he or she may even reassure you that whatever you don’t want
published could be edited out, and that if you don’t feel comfortable
with a question, you should feel free to keep quiet. But a good
journalist knows how to push you into a corner and get you, through
follow up questions, to say things you may not ordinarily want to say.
By the time the tape starts rolling, and you are encouraged to feel like
a star, and your own tongue starts rolling, you’d be surprised the kind
of emphasis, what you consider an innocent remark, would receive when
it is published. Point is: journalists, while on duty, are not working
for politicians or big men and women; they are working for organizations
that need stories that can sell. They want scoops that can make the
headlines. That is what makes them journalists: getting the good story,
the good comments, the good shots.
After reading the interview granted by
First Lady Aisha Buhari on BBC Hausa Service, I was tempted to conclude
that this is what may have happened. She could have said the same things
in a more delicately phrased manner. I have always held the view that
anybody at all in a public position should be sent for media training
(including how to deliver speeches, poise, pronunciation skills, even
basic grammar lessons) before they are unleashed on a Nigerian public
that has learnt to subject the lives of public officials to utmost
scrutiny. The Aisha Buhari interview also fell short in this regard. She
just gave the BBC Hausa service a scoop, which in my view has done more
damage to her husband’s politics than good.
Given the enormous effect that the
interview has had on the public, I would have expected that by now, she
would perhaps have tactically disowned it, put a spin on it somehow, and
make it clear that it is not intended in any way to discredit, or
criticize her husband’s administration. But nothing of such has
happened. And what does that mean? That the interview was deliberate and
that she is standing by every word she said. She has been called the
“good lady in the Villa.” She has been praised for being a modern wife
who can speak up, and exercise her right to free speech. She has been
called fearless and assertive. The only thing I have not heard from some
of the hypocritical commentators is that she would be a good
Presidential candidate for 2019.
I have also been told that she must have spoken out of frustration and that her public outburst about the existence of a cabal in the Villa, which determines who gets what appointment, to the disadvantage of members of the All Progressives Congress is making APC members who feel left out of the power-sharing process, very unhappy. But her outburst is nothing but a poor understanding of power politics. There will always be cabals around the seat of power. Power is so potent the people around the corridor will never leave it alone to the President.
And if it is true that this cabal or the
President has recruited non-APC members into the government, then that
is a positive thing, it is also a positive thing that the President does
not know many of the people he has appointed. He doesn’t need to know
them personally as long as they come from all parts of Nigeria and they
are competent men who can get the job done. The First Lady seems to
assume that only card-carrying members of the APC should work for the
Buhari administration. On a positive note, however, she doesn’t want
anybody to hijack her husband’s Presidency and she believes those who
are trying to do so do not mean well. But what does that say about her
husband?
The First Lady is also of the view that
if the present trend continues, she cannot campaign for her husband in
2019 should he decide to seek re-election. She sounded pleased with what
is being done to ensure security in the North East, but she gave the
impression that she doesn’t think her husband has done enough to merit a
second term in 2019. Hear her: “What I fear is the uprising of 15.4
million people”. And consider this: “…Nobody thought it is going to be
like this. But now that it is so…Sometimes when one is doing something
wrong without him knowing, but when people talk to them, they should
listen”. Who is that person doing something wrong and who does not
listen?
Altogether, Mrs Aisha Buhari has passed
the equivalent of a vote of no confidence in her husband, and the people
around him. This is a kind of “home trouble” brought to the public. The
biggest challenge a man can face is to have his own wife “fight” him in
public. And what has happened is both unprecedented and significant
considering that a Hausa-Fulani couple is involved. It is probably the
first time a lady in this position would publicly upbraid her husband
and his team. Is she furious because she has been scorned, ignored,
rendered powerless?
Well, even if we were not privy to other
details, she was publicly scorned when her husband sent a volcanic
message from Germany that she should go back to her place in the
“kitchen, the living room and the other room.” Feminists and critics of
misogyny have protested over this, quite rightly too, at a time when
women are leading countries and corporations, it is incorrect and
insensitive to say that the best place for a First Lady is to be a cook,
a living-room-soap opera-watching detainee and a bedroom object. But
given the cultural circumstances involved, this may well be the future
Aso Villa fate of First Lady Aisha Buhari. She could be marked out as an
ambitious woman who wants to share power with her husband, and as a
threat to her husband’s politics.
See how much damage has been caused
already by the President’s counter-response: The German Chancellor
glared at our President when she heard that comment about “the kitchen,
the living room and the other room.” She quickly ended their press
conference. Angela Merkel is married, and she is Chancellor, but I don’t
think her husband would dare tell her she is best fit for the kitchen
and the other room. And imagine if Theresa May, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Oby
Ezekwesili, Grace Alele-Williams, Omobola Johnson, Chimamanda Adichie,
Joke Jacobs… had all been chained down in the “other room”. No wonder,
President Buhari’s local opponents are already making big political
capital out of his un-Presidential comments, and the German public is
shocked that any world leader could be so politically incorrect. The
number of jokes and memes that have been designed around this
husband-wife exchange are thoroughly amusing. Mrs Buhari has also handed
over to critics of this administration, speaking points that would be
exploited all the way till 2019, and she may well end up not as a
powerful force in the Villa but as a strong voice for women’s rights.
It is possible she may be advised soon
to recruit spin-doctors to do damage control, but she may have left that
rather late already. On the other hand, there is no amount of damage
control that the President’s spin-doctors can sell to anyone. Whatever
happens, she is cultivating a reputation as a different kind of First
Lady. Since independence, every Nigerian Head of State or President has
enjoyed the support of his wife while in office: strong, fanatical
support. Mrs Maryam Abacha was so supportive of her husband, while
everybody condemned him, and long after his death, she has continued to
celebrate his memory. Before her, Mrs Maryam Babangida brought greater
colour and celebrity status to the Office of the First Lady and added
much value to her husband’s tenure.
Mrs Fati Abubakar was a dignified
presence behind her husband, the same with Mrs Margaret Shonekan.
President Olusegun Obasanjo had as First Lady, the very elegant and
beautiful Stella Obasanjo who mobilized support and goodwill for her
husband. Turai Yar’Adua, wife of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua
was also so devoted to her husband’s cause, she was declared the head of
the Aso Rock cabal. No one doubted her determination to protect her
husband’s interest during those critical moments. You all know Mrs
Patience Jonathan. She was as First Lady, her husband’s most vocal
supporter. This brought her at loggerheads with some sections of the
public who objected to her prominence and controversial statements, but
not once did she or the other First Ladies before her, criticize their
husbands in public.
Elsewhere, First Ladies also support
their husbands. With all the reported cases of dalliance and cuckoldry
during the Bill Clinton Presidency, Hillary Clinton stood by her
husband. Michelle Obama has also proven to be a very good role model in
this regard. Certain positions require careful grooming. Any form of
tension in the home could distract a political leader and make him seem
vulnerable in the eyes of the public. Mrs Aisha Buhari may have spoken
her mind, but she should not make a habit of assuming the role of a
radical, in-house critic, throwing her husband under the wheels. She
ought to be thoroughly embarrassed by all the fun being poked at her
husband because of that BBC Hausa interview she granted. How this matter
is resolved between their kitchen and “the other room” is a family
affair into which we cannot dabble.
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PLEASE BE POLITE