In the space of just two weeks, First Lady Aisha Buhari has spoken out unequivocally on a few knotty issues she feels strongly about. Her views have, however, been controversial. In one, two Fridays ago, she berated governors who were expected to ameliorate the conditions of the people but had seemed to abandon their states to squalor and poverty.
Her husband alone, she continued sensibly, could not solve the country’s developmental problems without the complementary actions of other state actors. Her opinion was instantly interpreted as a condemnatory analysis of the ineffectiveness of governors, to which the spokesman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Abdulrazaque Barkindo, replied that the first lady’s barbs were actually meant for everyone, not just the governors.
The first lady had remarked at a Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) General Assembly and National Executive Council (NEC) meeting that “We should either fasten our seatbelts and do the needfu,l or we will all regret it very soon because, at the rate things are going, things are getting completely out of hand.” She continued: “The VP (Yemi Osinbajo) is here, some ministers are here, they are supposed to do justice to the situation. People cannot afford potable water in this country while we have governors. Since this is the highest decision-making body of Islamic affairs, for those that are listening, we should fear God, and we should know that one day, we will return to God and account for our deeds here on earth.” The jury is out on whether governors were her main target. But her argument was caustic enough to elicit a comprehensive rejoinder from the NGF’s spokesman.
In the view of the governors, assuming their spokesman’s rejoinder fully represented their collective position, the first lady’s censure was directed at everyone, including the federal authorities, involved in the country’s developmental efforts. But whether the governors like it or not, they seemed to be the cynosure of the first lady’s criticism, even if they were realistically not the only ones responsible for the despondency.
Furthermore, almost like a double take, Mrs Buhari went on to offer another caustic opinion on the controversial bid to regulate the social media because of what she and many in the Muhammadu Buhari presidency and the 9th National Assembly regard as its disruptive and even destructive influence. Said Mrs Buhari: “On this issue of social media, you cannot just sit in the comfort of your house and tweet that the vice president has resigned, it is a serious issue. If China can control over 1.3bn people on social media, I see no reason why Nigeria cannot attempt controlling only 180m people.”
Reiterating and amplifying her takes on the two controversial issues during a phone-in on a live television (TVC) programme, she doubled down and vociferously defended her views, particularly responding to insinuations that she should be less forward in weighing in on public issues. Mrs Buhari is right to indicate that she has a mind of her own, and will always be willing to express it, no matter how controversial the topic. But she must also acknowledge that expressing such views is fraught with a lot of dangers, particularly the danger of misinterpretation on the one hand, and the risk of public attribution of her views to the presidency. She groaned that presidential aides and appointees were not doing enough to defend her husband’s government, insisting that if they did their job, she would not have to periodically wade in. Her position is nevertheless as risky as her resort to comparative population statistics is inexplicable.
For instance, on the pauperisation of the masses, in which she blamed others for not joining her husband in ameliorating the conditions of Nigerians, it is hardly an issue in which she is adequately informed. Her observations of the objective conditions of the people are of course true, but it is doubtful whether she was both factual and tactful in apportioning blame. As the governors indicated through the response of their spokesman, states are also involved in ameliorating poverty. However, it is not clear whether corruption and mismanagement at levels other than the federal level, which the first lady insinuated, are the only or even main cause of poverty in Nigeria. Indeed, a significant cause of poverty may not be unconnected with the country’s religious, economic and political structures. Without boldness and ingenuity in rearranging the country, it is not exactly clear to what extent poverty can really be addressed.
By all means let the first lady air her views — on social, political and economic matters. But she must understand that given the antecedents of her husband’s presidency, especially because it succeeded another deeply controversial president and first lady, she owes herself and the Buhari presidency to be more circumspect in criticising anyone or declaiming on any subject in which the experts in her husband’s government have not first offered a first, second and even third opinion. She must be keenly aware that the Buhari presidency was first blamed for pushing the economy into recession and then frittering away resources, time and energy in clawing the country back out of it. Even now, the presidency is still blamed for implementing wrong or inappropriate economic policies thereby sinking the country deeper into poverty, not to talk of lacking the courage to rework the country’s articles of association without which the people’s potentials cannot be unleashed.
Since the first lady’s speeches could not hope to comprehensively address these issues on the occasions when she broached the topics, it would undoubtedly be wise for her to be less forward and more restrained. This point must be made clear to her. Yes, she has a mind of her own, and that mind is often quite made up. But she has a duty to guarantee that her mind is frequently made up in the right directions on the salient issues of the day if she is not to draw flak upon herself and, by implication, her husband’s struggling government. Indeed, if care is not taken, she will find herself embracing causes that are potentially very explosive and capable of damaging her reputation and the image of the Buhari presidency. No issue brings out this need for a delicate balance as crucially as the attempt to regulate the social media.
Mrs Buhari has courageously waded into the social media regulation controversy. In her circumlocutory opinion, anchored on her personal experience in the heat of her husband’s presumed second marriage, if the social media is not regulated they could go on to do irreparable damage. In her incomparable view: “On this issue of social media, you cannot just sit in the comfort of your house and tweet that the vice president has resigned, it is a serious issue. If China can control over 1.3bn people on social media, I see no reason why Nigeria cannot attempt controlling only 180m people.” Given the suppositions that informed her conclusions, it is doubtful whether what was needed was courage on her part as much as circumspection. This is why she needs more caution. Not only was it wrong to wade into an issue that is still fermenting, and fermenting very badly indeed, it was also wrong to equate Nigeria with China, an equation that has become very fascinating to the many ideological voyeurs in the Buhari presidency, prompting many analysts to wonder whether anyone in the presidency takes the pain to read books at all.
The first lady may be privy to some information on the direction the Buhari presidency is surreptitiously taking Nigeria, probably away from the canonised template underscored by the 1999 Constitution. For, given the assiduity with which the Buhari presidency is courting diarchy and dictatorship, in contrast to the democratic fundamentals fought for and won by Nigerians in 1999, there is suspicion that the China appeal is not without reason. However, despite all the appeal, China is inappropriately deployed in their arguments for entirely the wrong reasons. China is not a democracy in the contrasting sense evinced by the Nigerian constitution, and despite its laudable developmental feats, is also not heterogeneous and sentimentally religious like Nigeria. There is no way to foist its standards, culture, politics and law on a country as undisciplined and fairly chaotic as Nigeria. Is the first lady hoping that Nigeria can have its cake and eat it?
Nigeria is going through a testy time, much of it instigated and compounded by the government’s intransigent and authoritarian predilections. The economy is not enjoying robust debate as to its direction, and the political space is fouled, constricted and stultified. Such conditions do not make it easy for a first lady to give her mind as candidly as Mrs Buhari has liberally done. She has her staff, and hopefully they are much deeper, franker and independently minded than those who advise the president himself. If that is the case, before she ventures on some of her strident and controversial interventions, she should avail herself of their services, hoping that they can put a leash on her explosive views and even help steer her in the direction of restraining the authoritarians who surround and prey upon the seat of power. (The Nation)
