In defence of Nigeria's 1st lady, Aisha Buhari

On Friday, January 19, 2018,

On both her Instagram and Facebook accounts, she shared clips of lawmakers calling out the President.

Obviously, such a move by the first lady did not go unnoticed most especially on social media.

Trending on social media

Aisha Buhari has 19,000 tweets on Twitter today, Saturday, January 20, 2018. It's not every day that a first lady would publicly throw shade at her husband.

For this present first lady, this, however, is not the first time, neither is it the second. Aisha Buhari has a track record of shading Mr President in public.

History of Aisha Buhari going rogue

In October of 2016, Mrs Buhari told the BBC that her husband is being held hostage by a cabal.

"The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I don't know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years," Aisha Buhari lamented.

"Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position," she added.

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In 2017, the first lady criticized the state of affairs at the Aso Rock clinic. “If the budget is N100 million, we need to know how the budget is spent. Along the line, I insisted they call Aso Clinic to find out if the X-ray machine is working, they said it is not working. They didn’t know I am the one that was supposed to be in that hospital at that every time" she said.

Cracks in the first marriage?

Clearly, there is a history of the first lady throwing jabs at her husband's administration. The issue at heart right now is if it is right for Mrs Buhari to be criticizing her husband publicly?

Aisha Buhari has definitely entered the history books at the first 'first lady' to criticize her husband. There are people who believe no matter how bad the President has performed, Aisha Buhari should not come publicly and call out her husband.

In an ideal marriage, it is presumed that husband and wife stick together at least publicly no matter what. However, let's not forget that the President's comment of 'the other room' in Germany was less than ideal. It seemed like a case of 'an eye for an eye'. It is clear that the presidential marriage in Aso Rock is far from picture perfect.

For love of country

The dilemma here is love of husband over love of country. Aisha Buhari seems to have picked the latter. She is calling President Buhari out because of his promises to the Nigerian people during the campaign period. She is also worried that the 'cabal', a shadow government of mysterious men might have hijacked the presidency.

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These are sentiments that many common Nigerians have had for a while now. Aisha Buhari's indicates that she understands the plight of everyday Nigerians.

It is refreshing to see someone in Aso Rock calling out the powers that be. Aisha Buhari might not be remembered as a classic Nigerian first lady, but her actions and utterances have given her a unique space in history.