Pay attention to the plight of Nigerians and serve them well, not my husband, Aishat tells Buhari’s aides

Firstclass newsline gathered that the wife of the President, Mrs.
Aisha Buhari, on Saturday implored politicians who may be picked to
work with President Muhammadu Buhari and all his political associates
to be careful the way they carry themselves.
She said such people should be wary of the fact that it took her
husband 12 years before getting to the position he currently occupies
and hence, they should tread with caution.
Mrs. Buhari said this during an "Appreciation Dinner" she hosted in
honour of the All Progressives Congress' women and youths at the old
Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
She said, "There was nothing that people did not say about the past
administration. It is not former President Goodluck Jonathan that is
not good but the people around him.
"So, the people that are going to be around President Buhari have to
be very careful because this election ended peacefully.
"We are praying and hoping that people around him should know that it
took him 12 years to get to that position and they must know that they
are coming to serve the masses, not General Buhari.
"It is the people that are around him that will determine the
political health of our state."
The President's wife also promised that the current administration
would run an open government.
She said government under her husband would be run differently from
what was obtainable under Jonathan when people were allegedly asked to
be paying huge amount of money in foreign currency before they could
see the President or his wife.
"I will like to inform you that in the past regime, whether it is true
or false, only God knows, some people were going round and parading
themselves as personal assistants.
"If you wanted to see the President's wife, you will pay $30,000 or
$50,000 and if you are seeing the President, you will pay all that you
have saved in your lifetime.
"This will not happen in our regime. Whoever asks you to give a single
penny in the name of coming to see the President or his wife is not
our (member of) staff. He is not an APC member, it is a lie. Don't be
deceived," she said.
Taking a look at her husband's 12-year journey towards returning as
President, Mrs. Buhari said her active participation in the last
electioneering made the difference.
She said she did not take part in the campaigns of her husband's first
three shots at the Presidency because that was how those who
surrounded him at that time wanted it.
This time, she said it was a national leader of the APC and a former
Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who encouraged her to play
an active role.
She also faulted claims that made the rounds ahead of the elections on
the alleged gender-insensitivity of her husband, saying they were mere
fabrications.
Describing Buhari as the pillar of her success despite the generation
gap between the two of them, she said it was the President who
encouraged her to go to school.
Mrs. Buhari said, "Many people did not know why I was not appearing
for the last three campaigns. I appeared only this time and I think it
made a lot of difference. A lot of people said my husband earned four
million votes as a result of my campaign.
"We were not sure but with the popularity of my husband, we thought
then that he needed female support to cancel all sorts of gender bias
people have been attaching to him like that he kept me under a
purdah."
"He had never kept me under a purdah even for a moment since I got
married to him…
"My husband is a gender-sensitive human being, having so many girls as
his own biological children and then having me as a wife, then you can
see the generation gap. He allowed me to go to school. To cut the
story short, he is the pillar of my success."
She thanked Nigerian women and youths for the roles they played
towards the success of the last election, saying she was aware of
their steadfastness during the electioneering up until the elections
proper.
These efforts, she said, contributed significantly to her husband's
success story.
Mrs. Buhari regretted that the number of women that made it to the
National Assembly during the current dispensation declined drastically
from the number obtainable during the last regime.
She said the current figure was not fair to women and they felt they
are not represented.
Mrs. Buhari said something drastic had to be done to address the high
rate of divorce in the North, the harrowing experience of widows in
the South and the harassment of female students in the nation's higher
institutions.
Earlier, a former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, who was
the chairman of the event, had thanked Mrs. Buhari and other women for
making his job as the Director-General of the Buhari/Osinbajo
Presidential Campaign Organisation easier.
Firstclassnewsline.net