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Jonathan Was Not Bad, But People Around Him Were – President Buhari’s Wife, Aisha

Mrs. Ayisha Buhari
Mrs. Ayisha Buhari

Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, has said that the immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was not bad but that the people around him misled him. She made it clear therefore that those who are going to work with her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari should not make the same mistake of derailing the good intentions of her husband.

Mrs. Buhari who was addressing All Progressives Congress’ women and youths at an “Appreciation Dinner”  at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja warned those who would be working with her husband to be wary of the fact that it took her husband a journey of 12 years before getting to the position he currently occupies.

According to her, the actions and behaviour of the people around her husband would go a long way in defining his Presidency.

“There is nothing people did not say about the past administration. It is not Jonathan that is not good but the people around him.

“So, the people that are going to be around General 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 in person. 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, adding that government under her husband would be run in clear departure 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 First Lady, you will pay $30,000 or $50,000 and if you are seeing the President, you will pay all that you have gathered 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 staff. He is not an APC member, it is a lie. Don’t be deceived,” she said.

She disclosed that she had never participated in her husband’s campaign in the previous elections which he attempted, but that in 2015, the national leader of the APC and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, encouraged her to play active role.

She described Buhari as the pillar of her success despite the generation gap between the two of them, adding that it was the President who encouraged her to go to school.

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“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 problems people have been attaching to him such as the fact that he kept me under a purdahn. He had never kept me under a purdah even for a moment since I got married to him.

“Even now, by the recent campaigns, it was Bola Ahmed Tinubu who insisted that I should come out and support my husband. Not that I never liked supporting my husband but it all depended on the people around him, that was before.

“And now too, it is the people around him that showed that they wanted me to participate, we did and we have seen the difference.

“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.”

The President’s wife said when Tinubu continued pestering her to join the campaign train, she talked to her husband who gave his approval.

She said she knew from the beginning that the campaign would not be easy, recalling that the greatest challenge she faced was security.

She recalled how the wife of the governor of Zamfara State had told her that supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stopped their convoy from returning to Gusau, the state capital up until 4am at a point.

The President’s wife said she also had her own raw deal when she joined the campaign train to Ilorin, Kwara State capital.

Those who attended the dinner included wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo; wife of the President of the Senate, Mrs. Toyin Saraki; wife of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Gimbia Dogara; wife of the National Chairman of the APC, Mrs. Victoria Odigie-Oyegun; wives of APC state governors, APC female deputy governors; wives of former governors on the platform of the party and other top officials of the party across the country. The national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was represented by Senator Babafemi Ojudu. [myad]

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