The President’s joke and women empowerment

What Hajiya Aisha Buhari, the wife of the President, said in her interview with the BBC Hausa service does not deserve more than a casual attention. Evidently, she bears reservations for not exerting her influence over appointments and perhaps other perks of government patronage. This is of course, another manifestation of corruption in which kinsmen, […]

What Hajiya Aisha Buhari, the wife of the President, said in her interview with the BBC Hausa service does not deserve more than a casual attention.
Evidently, she bears reservations for not exerting her influence over appointments and perhaps other perks of government patronage.
This is of course, another manifestation of corruption in which kinsmen, friends, and other associates of public officers take undue advantages in furtherance of self-serving interest, which has been strangely elevated to a required if not necessary tradition in our environment.
Perhaps President Muhammad Buhari has refused resolutely, to be controlled in that direction even by his immediate family, taking his fight against corruption ‘disagreeably’ too far.
Whatever the reasons of Aisha’s rantings, she has given us the relevant glimpse into the private life of the president. We can now trust him even more as a person who would never compromise on the principles and ideals for which he was famous and for which he eventually won the presidency.
What capture more of my attention are the insinuations from certain quarters, more out of mischief, that the wife of the President, being kept under purdah, is being abused by an oppressive husband.
The impression created by this is as maliciously false as it is empty; lacking in all substance. More so when seen from the exemplary support and contributions the President made in building the career of his wife.
These new critics refuse to accept the President’s statement made in Germany, for the joke it was; that his “wife belongs to the kitchen, his living room and the other room”.
Well at the time the President wedded his wife in 1989 all she had was a secondary school leaving certificate. With his support and encouragement Aisha acquired her first degree from ABU Zaria in public administration.
She went further and added a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Nigerian Defense Academy, Kaduna. She also obtained two post-graduate diplomas, one in beauty therapy and the other in cosmetology and beauty from Carlton Institute of Beauty Therapy UK and Academy Esthetique Beauty France respectively.
She is also currently the MD and founder of Hanzy Spa and principal of Hanzy Beauty Council.
In addition to being a resource person to the Nigerian Board of Technical Education (NBTE) she is as well a member of the International Health and Beauty Council. Regardless of the joke, President Muhammadu Buhari has done everything possible to support and empower his wife to actualize her full potentials and independence for a productive and fulfilled life.
Mustapha Aminu Yusuf, Tukuntawa Qtrs, Kano State, [email protected]