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Where’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari?

Published

3 years ago

January 8, 2021

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The Nigerian First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, is not a stranger to spontaneous journeys as she has been known to embark on trips to foreign countries at the slightest excuse, ever since the advent of the present administration which her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari, supervises. However, at the moment, no one seems to know for sure where the supposedly outspoken First Lady is.

When it is believed that first ladies all over the world stay close to their husbands and assist in the running of government, Aisha Buhari’s case has completely been the opposite as of recent, she has hardly appeared in the public space or made policy statements that relate to governance or the wellbeing of Nigerians or even in the interest of the government as either a party woman or an integral part of government.

The era of the Chief (Mrs) Stella Obasanjo, Mrs Turai Yar’dua and Mrs Patience Jonathan as first ladies were no doubt eventful as Nigerians can testify to the influence they had on their husbands in the running of government. There is something to remember each of them for. This is even leaving out the aura Mrs Maryam Babangida brought to the office of First Lady, and sustained by Mrs Miriam Abacha.

Unlike the Aisha Buhari, who campaigned vigorously for her husband in the 2015 election in Nigeria, organising town hall meetings with women’s groups and youth organisations, her low profile status shortly after the administration took shape raised eyebrows. More revelations had it that she was restricted to her work on the empowerment of women and helping victims of the Boko Haram conflict in the north-east of the country.

It must be noted however, that the First Lady has not hidden his disdain for the Buhari administration as a result of its stand on the economy and social welfare. She was reputed to have insinuated long before the 2019 elections that she would not vote for her husband nor mobilise women to do same if the situation then persists. But she was prominent after all during the campaign hunting for votes for Buhari.

One cannot say with all certainty that all is well or has been well with the First Family. It is rare to see both Buhari and Aisha speaking in agreement on a particular issue. Take for instance during an interview with the BBC’s Hausa language service in 2016, Mrs Buhari suggested her husband’s government had been hijacked by only a “few people”, who were behind presidential appointments.

“The president does not know 45 out of 50 of the people he appointed and I don’t know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years,” she said, sending shock waves among the political world that a very close person to Buhari would reveal her level of discontent of the administration at such an early stage.

Buhari’s response on its own was an admission that all wasn’t well with the family. He threw back a salvo saying “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 added that having run for president three times and having succeeded at the fourth attempt, he could “claim superior knowledge over her”.

The comment did not unleash silent responses from the public even as the President’s handlers tried very hard to dismiss it as a humour.

Mrs Buhari though has always been embarking on foreign trips, especially for health related issues, the recent trips have raised a lot of questions. Facts available to The Boss reveal that the President’s wife’s trip to Dubai in August 2020 on the pretense of medical examination was for shopping for paraphernalia for the wedding ceremony of her daughter Hanan, who married Mohammed Turad on September 4, 2020. The trip was facilitated through a jet belonging to billionaire businessman, Mohammed Indimi. It was also revealed that her doctor stays in London, and so the trip to Dubai couldn’t have been for medical purposes.

SaharaReporters earlier reported that Mrs Buhari’s travel was packaged to look like a health emergency in order not to raise eyebrows for violating government’s restriction on international flights due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

“There is presently a ban on international flights by the government except it is essential, so the best way for her to travel was under the guise of medical treatment,” the medium reported.

Presently, Mrs Aisha Buhari is not in the country. She is alleged to have permanently relocated to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The First Lady has not been in Nigeria in over four months and was reportedly quoted as saying that Aso Rock Villa is no longer secure for her family.

Her insecurity concerns were fueled by a shooting incident which occurred in June 2020 and caused some panic among occupants of the Aso Villa.

Report has it that “there was a crisis in Aso Villa after security details of the President’s wife removed Buhari’s Personal Assistant, Sabiu ‘Tunde’ Yusuf, from the place after he refused to embark on a 14-day isolation period upon returning from a trip to Lagos.

“Shortly afterwards, the First Lady’s ADC, Usman Shugaba, in an attempt to apprehend Yusuf, reportedly fired gunshots but the President’s aide escaped to the residence of Mamman Daura where he spent the night.

“Yusuf soon ordered the arrest of Aisha’s ADC and other security details in connivance with Buhari’s chief security officer.

Buhari had ordered a probe into the alleged security breach inside the Presidential Villa, but as at date, nothing has been heard of the probe.

Speaking in defence of the First Lady, her aide, Kabiru Dodo, denied the relocation reports based on insecurity reasons, noting that the president’s wife only travelled out of the country on medical grounds.

He said: “The First Lady travelled for her medical trip. She did not flee the country because of insecurity, she left her children, her husband and family in Nigeria, what people are saying is baseless and worth nothing to be considered. I want to tell the whole world that I do speak to her on daily basis and she is ready to return to the country as soon as she is done with the medical treatment abroad.”

But when the supposed medical treatment will end remains largely unknown.

Aisha Buhari was born in Adamawa State in 1971. She is the granddaughter of Nigeria’s first Minister of Defence, Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Administration from Ambrose Alli University (AAU), and a Master’s degree in International Affairs and Strategic Studies from the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna.

Aisha obtained a Diploma in Beauty Therapy from the Carlton Institute of Beauty Therapy, Windsor, United Kingdom, and holds a post-graduate Diploma in Cosmetology and Beauty from Academy Esthetique Beauty Institute of France.

Aisha is a member of the United Kingdom Vocational Training and Charitable Trust and the International Health and Beauty Council.

At the young age of 18 in 1989, she married a former military Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, and the marriage has produced five children; a boy and four girls. They are: Zahra, Yusuf, Halima, Sheriff, Amina and Aisha.

Apart from engaging in human right activism, Mrs Buhari is also a business personality. In 1995, she established the Hanzy Spa, in Kaduna State. The spa is reputed as northern Nigeria’s first beauty parlour. She also has a book to her credit, The Essentials of Beauty Therapy: A Complete Guide for Beauty Specialists, which she published in 2014. She donated proceeds from the book to parents of abducted Chibok girls, the Buni Yadi boys murdered in 2014, and children suffering from malnutrition.

In 2017, Mrs Buhari echoed her daughter, Zahra’s voice in condenming the Aso Rock clinic for inefficiency. Zahra had earlier said that not even paracetamol tablet was found in the clinic, its N3 billion budget notwithstanding, before Mrs Buhari told a story of how an x-ray machine could not be found in the clinic to treat her of an ailment. She concluded that she was later treated in 100% foreigners-operated hospital.

Aside her Aso Rock related crises, she reportedly caused upset in 2015 when she appeared in public wearing an expensive-looking watch. Many had believed that she was bent on undermining Buhari’s ‘Mr Integrity’ image. Again, she got into the wrong books of the public when she attempted to shake hands with the Alaafin of Oyo.

Aisha’s children have not fared well either in the public eye. Her last child, Hanan, a graduate of Photography from Ravensbourne University, London, United Kingdom, in July 2019, allegedly ordered the Department of State Services to arrest a young businessman based in Delta State, Athony Okolie, after he was issued a mobile number by telecommunications company MTN previously used and abandoned by her. Okolie spent 10 weeks in unlawful detention before he was finally released.

Again, in January 2020, Hanan attended an event to photograph a Durbar by Rilwanu Adamu, Emir of Bauchi, in one of the jets in the presidential fleet. A move the Presidency defended.

In December, 2017, Yusuf, was involved in a ghastly power bike accident in the Gwanripa area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. In a statement issued by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President, Yusuf “broke a limb and had an injury to the head as a result.” He was later flown for treatment. His accident made Nigerians wonder at the ostentatious lifestyle of Buhari’s children.

On Friday, pictures trended on the social media of Turad, Hanan’s husband’s birthday celebration in Dubai, but Mrs Buhari was conspicuously absent in the pictures, prompting a whole lot to ask where is the First Lady, Aisha Buhari?

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Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: Prioritize Existing Unfinished Projects, Peter Obi Tells FG

Published

4 days ago

April 22, 2024

Eric

Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, has advised the federal government to prioritize existing unfinished projects spread across the country instead of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project.

Obi, in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, stated that the project was a misplaced priority given the numerous unfinished roads throughout the country.

The former governor of Anambra State mentioned that the budget allocated to the Ministry of Works is insufficient for significant progress on the country’s various unfinished roads, much less their completion.

Obi therefore, advised that the government prioritize the existing infrastructural projects in the country before embarking on any new and colossal projects like the Lagos-Calabar super highway project.

“The Federal Ministry of Works 2024 capital budget of N892,461,262,656.00, additional funding from multilateral loan projects of N94,828,535,243.00, alongside other expected contributions from sources like the China-Exim Bank and the World Bank, will not be enough for serious work on all the critical roads, some of which I enumerated above, let alone their completion.

So, why embark on another huge project that will not be completed in the next 20 or 30 years?

“To do so will only exacerbate the problem of abandoned, uncompleted projects that are not contributing to economic growth and overall development.

“Therefore, while acknowledging the potential benefits of coastal superhighway infrastructure, I urge prioritization of our existing uncompleted projects. We must allocate resources towards repairing and completing existing infrastructure.

“In any development formula, the primary focus should be on completing and rehabilitating existing infrastructure rather than embarking on colossal new projects that may never reach completion within the next 30 years,” Obi said.

Back in March, the Federal Government began constructing the 700-kilometer Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, designed to extend through 9 states with two spurs leading to the Northern States.

Recall that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, had earlier described the project as a fraud.

“Umahi had announced that Hitech would fully fund the project, and based on this, there was no competitive bidding. He (Umahi) then said that Hitech could only raise just 6% of the money for the pilot phase. This smacks of deceit,” Atiku said.

Headline

2027 Presidential Race: Opposition Parties Under Attack

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

While it is still a whole three years before the next general election in 2027, The Boss has learnt that opposition parties in the countries are being muffled to pave the way for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to return to, and retain power.

From the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the Labour Party (LP), and down to the New Nigerian Peoples Paty (NNPP), crises have engulfed the rank and files, in what a source told this paper was the attempt and making of the ruling party, APC, to decimate, destabilize and make redundant the machineries of the opposition parties.

It is believed that by 2027, the apparatuses holding together the various opposition parties would have weakened irredeemably to the extent the country would seemingly nosedive into the inglorious one party state that every civil right advocate and democrats abhor.

It is alleged that all the crises in all the opposition parties are being engineered by the President Bola Tinubu-led ruling APC, with the hope of getting the fibres of their system weakened, thereby luring the members of the crisis-ridden parties into the APC.

Slightly one year after the last presidential election, the two major opposition platforms, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party, have separately been embroiled in a crisis of confidence which has diminished their capacity to provide viable opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The crises in both opposition parties got to a head. The Labour Party led by its national chairman Julius Abure held its much-opposed national convention which was boycotted by its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi; its only governor, Alex Otti of Abia State; federal and state lawmakers elected on its platform, and the organised Labour.

In the Labour Labour, members have been embroiled in endless battle of supremacy with a faction led by Mr. Apapa steadily contesting the leadership of Julius Abure.

Consequently, the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, reverence as a leader in the fold, noting that whatever the party faces presently, that Nigeria’s problems are far bigger than the crises in his party.

The LP has been embroiled in crises — ranging from allegations of misappropriation of funds, and leadership tussle, to calls for the resignation of the party’s national chairman.

TheCable reported that “On March 27, the LP conducted a national convention in Anambra state where Julius Abure was re-elected as its national chairman.

Obi did not attend the convention, fuelling speculations that he may be mulling over ditching the LP for another platform.

Speaking during an appearance on HaveYourSay247, an interactive online session hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo over the weekend, Obi said he is confident that the crises rocking the LP will soon be resolved amicably.

“Whatever is happening in the Labour Party is so minute compared to what is happening in the country,” Obi said.

“So, for me, it is something we will resolve amicably, and it is not anything to worry about. Let us worry about the country.

“Let us worry about how the average Nigerian would be able to have a means of livelihood to be able to eat, that should be our worry.”

Obi said he has no interest in being the party’s leader but only to make sure things are done properly.

“I don’t see what I do in politics as being the leader of any place or not. My position is that just like I always say, I am not desperate to be president of Nigeria, I am desperate to see Nigeria work because I know it can work,” he added.

“We have a more desperate situation. Parties are just a means to be able to contest elections. What is important is that being a leader of a party does not reduce the price of food.

In the PDP, the shenanigans of former Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has practically kept the party in constant crisis with many observers concluding that the now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is working for the APC, and is just a mole in the PDP. Wike has denied the allegation, however,

But news filtered in last week as that the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NEC meeting on Thursday was not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

While political stakeholders concluded that the outcome of the Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan; every page of what finally transpired at the meeting pointed to the fact.

The much touted removal of the party chairman, who is believed to be a crony of the Abuja minister, Damagum, retained his seat, with his executives.

“It is very clear to everyone that a lot of money politics is being played to cajole many loyal members of the party, forcing them into frustration, and eventually it of the party. The option afterwards, will be the APC. This, will for all intent and purpose actualize the intended one party state as an APC agenda.

The Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso-led NNPP is not faring better either. The only governor under their ticket, Abba Kabir Yusuf, just had the confidence of their party on him withdrawn. He was fighting for his political life until suddenly it was announced the the APC in Kano has collapsed its structure into the NNPP.

“This is just another APC strategy to actualize their hidden intentions. Time will reveal the very sinister agenda they harboring,” an analyst said.

Much as 2027 is still three years away, but intrigues are in play to render Nigeria a one party state, and perpetuate the APC in power. The three other opposition parties are basically under attack to bring to pass this unpopular agenda.

Headline

Akwa Ibom Government, Governor Umo Eno Receive Top Honors at the 10th Wonders of the World Expo in Lagos

Published

5 days ago

April 21, 2024

Admin

The Akwa Ibom State Government and Governor Pastor Umo Eno were recognized with Travellers Awards at the 10th Wonders of the World Expo in Lagos for their sustained enhancement of infrastructure, support for local talent, and dedication to investment in the tourism sector. The ceremony took place at the National Museum in Onikan, Lagos.

While Akwa Ibom won the Most Active Tourism State of the Year, Governor Eno was adjudged the most Tourism-Friendly Governor of the Year at the event that had Minister of Tourism, Mrs. Lola Ade John in attendance.

According to Amb. Ikechi Uko, Founder/Publisher of ATQ Magazine, the organizers of the event which is in its tenth edition, Akwa Ibom State won the top prize “in recognition of its valiant and resourceful efforts to drive and sustain domestic tourism by promoting the industry.

‘In 2023, Akwa Ibom was one of the states that hosted World Tourism Day (WTD ) events. The state also organized the famous Christmas Unplugged, which featured music, food, and cultures from all 31 LGAs as well as ensured friendly policies.”

While hoping that the Travellers Awards would spur Akwa Ibom to do more to dominate the domestic tourism industry, the organizers hoped that the state would gradually evolve into one of Nigeria’s top international tourism destinations.

That was not all, the state Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, Sir Charles Udoh was also recognized as one of the Top 100 Tourism Personalities in Nigeria for demonstrating exceptional leadership and innovation in the travel and tourism industry, while other Akwa Ibom indigenes and entity were also celebrated: Mrs. Ime Udo, Honorary Special Adviser to the Governor( Tourism) won Tourism Promoter of the Year, Favour Udo won Tourism Photographer of the Year, Loretta Effiong and Prince Uduak Sunday (Qua Tours) were listed among the Tourism Personalities of the Year and Ibom Air won Airline of the Year International.

In his remarks, Sir Charles Udoh, who represented the Governor at the event, thanked the organizers for the awards and noted that Akwa Ibom is certainly enjoying the golden era when it comes to tourism development. He stated that Governor Umo Eno is very keen on making Akwa Ibom a leading tourism destination with his programmes and policies.

He revealed that with the new Victor Attah International Airport nearing completion, the purchase of a ferry for the Oron-Calabar route, new developments along its coastline and the restoration work that will be done at all its major tourism sites, Akwa Ibom is well on the way to becoming the number one destination for all domestic and foreign tourists.

In her speech, Tourism Minister, Mrs. Ade John hailed the organizers for hosting the Expo, where practitioners were lectured by top experts while also rewarding those who have excelled in the past year.

She affirmed that her ministry is open to partnership with public and private sector operators, adding that tourism development can only be successful through collaborative efforts.

The event, which attracted leading and budding tourism professionals, also featured interactive and entertainment sessions.

Apart from Sir Charles Udoh and Mrs. Ime Udo, the Akwa Ibom State delegation, also included: Mr. Michael Effiong James, Senior Special Assistant (Lagos Liaison) to Governor, Mrs. Eme Bassey, Special Assistant to Governor (Lagos Liaison) and Akparawa John Offiong, Deputy Director ( Culture) Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

More photos below: