The Kitchen and the other Room

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While Nigerians tried to decipher where the other room is, the President's media team, as disjointed and disconnected as they usually are, came up with a defense that their boss was only joking by that statement.

But Baba himself once again showed them that he is a man of his words when he insisted that his wife truly belongs to his kitchen and the other room, in an interview with the German Deutsche Welle TV.

PMB was reacting to his First lady's scathing criticism when she gave an interview to the BBC that a certain cabal has hijacked her husband's government and that those who did contribute to their campaign are the ones benefiting from the government.

Well, much has been said about the response of PMB to his wife's statements though everything boils down to the Kitchen and the other Room comment. (Only PMB himself can tell what the other room is by the way)

Women rights groups have come out with guns blazing, calling for Baba's head for daring to say that his wife belongs to the kitchen and the other room.

There have been #iStandWithAishaBuhari and #AishaMustNotBeSilenced campaigns on different social media platforms, with some supporters of the First Lady taking to the streets to protest in her support.

But what many do not understand is that PMB knows exactly what he is saying and he made no bones about it.

The president is a core Fulani Muslim man, a strict military officer (retired, you may say), and from the stiff-necked old school stock.

President Muhammadu Buhari and wife, Aisha

Photo Credit: Trade Newswire

And for such people, his wife should be in the background preparing his meals (in the kitchen), and taking care of him (in the other room).

Some core northern Muslims generally frown at their wives making public appearances and even when they are to come out in the public, they must cover up from the head to the toe.

They are to be very submissive to their husbands and should not argue with them. The husbands are seen as the Lords of the Manor.

It has nothing to do with chauvinism or masochism but that is how they are and that must be respected.

So if Buhari says his wife belongs to somewhere rather than the public space, so be it. The fact that she is the First Lady should not be an excuse for her to compete for attention with her husband.

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And come to think of it, the PMB had made it clear during his campaign that his wife will only be seen and not heard when he becomes president, so why the hullabaloo about her belonging to a certain restricted quarter in his house?

So in line with Baba's directives, Aisha should go back to the Kitchen.... and the other Room, simple!