First Lady demands apology from Sahara Reporters

The Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has demanded an apology from an online media, the Sahara reporters over its inability to prove an alleged story, accusing her of abuse of privileges.

Aisha made the demand in a statement by her Special Assistant on Media, Mrs Adebisi Olumide-Ajayi, in Abuja on Sunday.

She asked the online media to apologise for its inability to provide evidence of the publication linking her with the allegations of abuse of privileges at the Nigerian High Commission in London.

The wife of the president described the continuous publication of unfounded stories by Sahara Reporters against her as becoming a great concern.

The statement said “After our last rejoinder, we expected the Sahara Reporters to come out with concrete evidence of deliberate fraud or abuse of privileges, or be bold enough to apologise for such hazy and unsubstantiated report.

“At last, what Sahara Reporters came up with was another conjecture of a purported internal memo within the Consulate, which has no direct link to Her Excellency.

“The new accusation, however, has still not been able to substantiate where Aisha Buhari made any direct contact with the mission for anything."

She said that the High Commission had its internal administrative procedure, which it was not within the purview of the wife of the President to ask for diplomatic files.

“The said memo showed little or no knowledge of Aisha’s itinerary and proved the simple fact we earlier submitted that she had no direct business with the embassy to warrant the accusation of waste or corruption insinuated in the report.

“It is not uncommon for her to have stop-over in Britain like any other country as the case may be.

“VIP treatment is a simple protocol for a personality of her status, which is done all over the world, and at no point was she offered anywhere else.

“The High Commission provided the lounge and Aisha was not involved in the transaction.

“This is even a far cry from the £32,000 expended in the past as landing fees for private jets of former first ladies.

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“It will be to the credit of Sahara Reporters to carry out a thorough check if the so called monies (£3,500) spent for whatever reason by the High Commission has any direct link with her,” she said.

She said that part of her trips abroad was for her non-governmental organisation, which was not funded by the government.