Buhari Vs Buhari

Jonathan Nda-Isaiah

The most trending story on the social media in Nigeria for the past week, is the First Lady, sorry, wife of the President, Aisha Buhari’s interview with the BBC and the reply from President Muhammadu Buhari. With the myriads of problems facing Nigeria at the moment, the rise of kidnapping, the economic recession and the hardship in the land, what has dominated the media space is the domestic spat between the president and his wife.

Mrs Buhari entered our Guinness Book of records as the first wife of the president to openly criticise her husband in public. Issues that should be discussed in the other room was put in the public space. The issue has further shown the deep cracks in the APC and the presidency.

Coincidentally, Buhari was having a good week with issues like the clampdown of judges, which I support 100 percent and the release of 21 Chibok girls, who have been abducted for over two years, then Aisha happened.

In my candid opinion, issues like that should be kept in the house. She must have spoken out of frustration, maybe she was quoted out of context, and I remember one comedian saying she should be arrested. That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long while.

Buhari, in Germany, also made one of the most expensive jokes ever when he said his wife belongs to the kitchen. The statement went viral with many Nigerians putting a spin on the whole saga with different creative memes on the social media. You cannot help but wonder how Nigerians are this creative yet, we are still battling with recession.

While the presidency did a damage control, Buhari did another interview, echoing the same thing‎. Guess Buhari must be one of the most difficult presidents to manage. One thing about the president is his bluntness, he says things as it is, not minding the consequences.

However, as the president of a country like Nigeria, being blunt has it consequences. Sometimes, he needs to hide his feelings. I think from 2019, etiquette classes need to be arranged for our presidents and their spouses and also governors and their wives. There are some things you don’t say in public, no matter how strongly you feel about a particular issue or matter.

I have never seen any president’s wife anywhere in the world criticising her husband in public. While I may not agree with the method she used to vent her frustration, I agree with what she said. I have said it on this page that the president needs to rejig his cabinet‎. Most of the present ministers have failed spectacularly with flying colours and there is a need to change the direction of the ship before we all shipwreck.

There is no doubt that opportunists have taken over the cabinet and those who worked in the trenches for the president have not been rewarded. There is a general dissatisfaction among APC members nationwide that most of them who worked, sometimes at the expense of their lives and career, have not been rewarded and in politics loyalty, is rewarded. Some people deserve to be compensated for making the change dream a reality.

The president needs to calm the storms in his household before it degenerates into a national embarrassment if it has not already.  The PDP has even offered Mrs Buhari their party membership card. The APC is on the brink of implosion and, as the leader of the APC, President Buhari owes his party a duty to unite all the warring factions, because the way things are going, we may not have any party called the APC in 2019.