For as long as Nigerians can remember, the rate of warnings by the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, about a certain cabal taking over the presidency has increased consistently. However, not until recently did Nigerians have a first-hand view of the power play being acted right in the presidency.
Last week, when the rumour that President Muhammadu Buhari may be taking another wife in the extended absence of the First Lady was rife, a video clip was leaked and circulated in the media. The clip, which contained someone suspected to be Aisha Buhari complaining angrily about a section of the Aso Rock Villa being under lock and key.
Diverse explanations and theories erupted as to the veracity and truism of the claims. It would not be until the return of Aisha Buhari into the country on Sunday, when Aisha granted a BBC Hausa interview, that she disclosed the additional details of her version of what transpired in the video. She alleged that the video clip was leaked by Fatima Daura, one of the daughters of President Buhari’s close relative, Mammam Daura. She added that the event which transpired in the clip was about a year old.
And just around the time of Aisha Buhari’s revelation, Fatima herself revealed that she released the video clip to show the verbal abuse she and her sister faced with the First Lady when they were ordered to leave an apartment meant for the President’s children in the Villa.
As embarrassing as this event might be for Nigerians to realise that such a squabble does exist between the President’s wife, his extended family and closest aide; there are more underlying tunes to the event which points to the allegations which Aisha has always hammered on whenever she had the opportunity to speak in public.
That one of the President’s aides, no matter the familial connection, could be occupying quarters allocated to the president’s children even after being ordered to vacate the premises some will suspect that there could be lack of trust and a looming security breach at the top echelons of power.
Some Nigerians have even suggested that the event, as brazen as leaking it to the media so as to paint the First Lady badly in public eye, is not only a slap on the integrity of the supposed cabal who no longer seem to trust the First lady but are also working assiduously to replace her.
Arguably, some provocative statements which have been made in the past by the First Lady herself, before and after the elections, may be considered as a betrayal as they may appear to jeopardize the political interests of her husband, Buhari.
The suspicion by some quarters also that Aisha Buhari was not ready to let go of her position in the presidency so cheaply may have hurried her to return home from her extended stay abroad which has been in effect since she and the President left for Hajj in August.
In as much as the First Lady has apologized to her immediate family and to the entire Nigerian public for the embarrassment which the drama in Aso Villa has caused; she may have just won this round of the power play between her side and that of the assumed cabal which she had always complained about.
Nevertheless, it is not yet Uhuru for her and some Nigerians who have always suspected that something is amiss in the Villa and that the president might have for long been under intense influence in instituting some policies which could have had negative implications on Nigerians. Nigerians must remain vigilant.
Source:
Vanguard NG
Featured Image Source: BBC