An Islamic leader Sheikh Ismail Illyasu Mangu Friday called on security
agencies in Nigeria to arrest the first lady Aisha Buhari for her
statement with the BBC Hausa service suggesting that she might not back
her husband’s potential reelection in 2019 if he didn’t shake up his
government.
“It is a threat to the peace of the country and we do hope the security
agencies will immediately arrest her, he said.
Mrs Buhari in the interview said “The president does not know 45 out of 50
of the people he appointed and I don’t know them either, despite being his
wife of 27 years,” she said. “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.”
Sheikh Mangu of the Jamaatul Izalatul Bid’ah Mosque, Kano, while speaking
to hundreds of worshipers after the Jumaat prayer, called on security
agencies to arrest the first lady “because her interview is capable of
inciting millions of Nigerians against her husband.
“We are sad about the interview granted by the wife of the President. We
believe that opposition members in the country are using her against the
government. Her statement is unfair and capable of inciting violence.
“We believed that some ungrateful elements in the country are using the
wife of the president to tarnish the image of the president and the
country. Nigerians are not in her support. ”
President Buhari responding to the first lady’s comments during a press
conference in Germany.
“I don’t know which party my wife belongs to,” he quipped , “but she
belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room.”
Pointing out that he has more political experience than his wife, Buhari
continued, “I claim superior knowledge over her and the rest of the
opposition, because in the end I have succeeded. It’s not easy to satisfy
the whole Nigerian opposition parties or to participate in the
government.”
The president has been receiving backlash for his comment both in Nigeria
and across the globe.
According to the Washington Post on Friday “His popularity has fallen amid
various spiraling crises — a faltering economy, a deadly insurgency,
a devastating famine. And now, even his wife is skeptical.
Meanwhile, the first lady’s comment has received applause from most
Nigerians, especially within the ruling APC party.
The APC spokesman, Timi Frank in a statement he signed in Abuja, on Friday
said, “I think Mrs. Buhari deserves commendation because she is actually
speaking the minds of not only the party members, but Nigerians.
A chieftain of the APC from the Southwest also echoed the words of Timi
Frank saying,”Most of us put our lives on the line, our resources, time
and talent only to be abandoned.”