Public communication is one of the most
delicate challenges that people in public life face,
either in the corporate or the public sector. Many
people suddenly find themselves in high places,
and they become a source of news, a potential
interview subject, and they get chased around by
journalists and other media figures who want a
story, in fact, not just a story, but a scoop. I
used to explain in communication coaching
classes and to the bosses whose media I
managed, at one point or the other that they
should never feel obliged to say things they do
not want to say. No matter how aggressive the
journalist may be, they should be careful what
they say.
A journalist would make you feel at home, he or
she may even reassure you that whatever you
don’t want published could be edited out, and
that if you don’t feel comfortable with a
question, you should feel free to keep quiet. But
a good journalist knows how to push you into a
corner and get you, through follow up questions,
to say things you may not ordinarily want to say.
By the time the tape starts rolling, and you are
encouraged to feel like a star, and your own
tongue starts rolling, you’d be surprised the kind
of emphasis, what you consider an innocent
remark, would receive when it is published. Point
is: journalists, while on duty, are not working for
politicians or big men and women; they are
working for organizations that need stories that
can sell. They want scoops that can make the
headlines. That is what makes them journalists:
getting the good story, the good comments, the
good shots.
After reading the interview granted by First Lady
Aisha Buhari on BBC Hausa Service, I was
tempted to conclude that this is what may have
happened. She could have said the same things
in a more delicately phrased manner. I have
always held the view that anybody at all in a
public position should be sent for media training
(including how to deliver speeches, poise,
pronunciation skills, even basic grammar lessons)
before they are unleashed on a Nigerian public
that has learnt to subject the lives of public
officials to utmost scrutiny. The Aisha Buhari
interview also fell short in this regard. She just
gave the BBC Hausa service a scoop, which in
my view has done more damage to her
husband’s politics than good.
Given the enormous effect that the interview has
had on the public, I would have expected that by
now, she would perhaps have tactically disowned
it, put a spin on it somehow, and make it clear
that it is not intended in any way to discredit, or
criticize her husband’s administration. But
nothing of such has happened. And what does
that mean? That the interview was deliberate
and that she is standing by every word she said.
She has been called the “good lady in the Villa.”
She has been praised for being a modern wife
who can speak up, and exercise her right to free
speech. She has been called fearless and
assertive. The only thing I have not heard from
some of the hypocritical commentators is that
she would be a good Presidential candidate for
2019.
I have also been told that she must have spoken
out of frustration and that her public outburst
about the existence of a cabal in the Villa, which
determines who gets what appointment, to the
disadvantage of members of the All Progressives
Congress is making APC members who feel left
out of the power-sharing process, very unhappy.
But her outburst is nothing but a poor
understanding of power politics. There will
always be cabals around the seat of power.
Power is so potent the people around the
corridor will never leave it alone to the President.
And if it is true that this cabal or the President
has recruited non-APC members into the
government, then that is a positive thing, it is
also a positive thing that the President does not
know many of the people he has appointed. He
doesn’t need to know them personally as long as
they come from all parts of Nigeria and they are
competent men who can get the job done. The
First Lady seems to assume that only card-
carrying members of the APC should work for
the Buhari administration. On a positive note,
however, she doesn’t want anybody to hijack her
husband’s Presidency and she believes those
who are trying to do so do not mean well. But
what does that say about her husband?
The First Lady is also of the view that if the
present trend continues, she cannot campaign for
her husband in 2019 should he decide to seek re-
election. She sounded pleased with what is being
done to ensure security in the North East, but
she gave the impression that she doesn’t think
her husband has done enough to merit a second
term in 2019. Hear her: “What I fear is the
uprising of 15.4 million people”. And consider
this: “…Nobody thought it is going to be like this.
But now that it is so…Sometimes when one is
doing something wrong without him knowing, but
when people talk to them, they should listen”.
Who is that person doing something wrong and
who does not listen?
Altogether, Mrs Aisha Buhari has passed the
equivalent of a vote of no confidence in her
husband, and the people around him. This is a
kind of “home trouble” brought to the public. The
biggest challenge a man can face is to have his
own wife “fight” him in public. And what has
happened is both unprecedented and significant
considering that a Hausa-Fulani couple is
involved. It is probably the first time a lady in
this position would publicly upbraid her husband
and his team. Is she furious because she has
been scorned, ignored, rendered powerless?
Well, even if we were not privy to other details,
she was publicly scorned when her husband sent
a volcanic message from Germany that she
should go back to her place in the “kitchen, the
living room and the other room.” Feminists and
critics of misogyny have protested over this,
quite rightly too, at a time when women are
leading countries and corporations, it is incorrect
and insensitive to say that the best place for a
First Lady is to be a cook, a living-room-soap
opera-watching detainee and a bedroom object.
But given the cultural circumstances involved,
this may well be the future Aso Villa fate of First
Lady Aisha Buhari. She could be marked out as
an ambitious woman who wants to share power
with her husband, and as a threat to her
husband’s politics.
See how much damage has been caused already
by the President’s counter-response: The
German Chancellor glared at our President when
she heard that comment about “the kitchen, the
living room and the other room.” She quickly
ended their press conference. Angela Merkel is
married, and she is Chancellor, but I don’t think
her husband would dare tell her she is best fit
for the kitchen and the other room. And imagine
if Theresa May, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Oby
Ezekwesili, Grace Alele-Williams, Omobola
Johnson, Chimamanda Adichie, Joke Jacobs…
had all been chained down in the “other room”.
No wonder, President Buhari’s local opponents
are already making big political capital out of his
un-Presidential comments, and the German
public is shocked that any world leader could be
so politically incorrect. The number of jokes and
memes that have been designed around this
husband-wife exchange are thoroughly amusing.
Mrs Buhari has also handed over to critics of
this administration, speaking points that would be
exploited all the way till 2019, and she may well
end up not as a powerful force in the Villa but as
a strong voice for women’s rights.
It is possible she may be advised soon to recruit
spin-doctors to do damage control, but she may
have left that rather late already. On the other
hand, there is no amount of damage control that
the President’s spin-doctors can sell to anyone.
Whatever happens, she is cultivating a reputation
as a different kind of First Lady. Since
independence, every Nigerian Head of State or
President has enjoyed the support of his wife
while in office: strong, fanatical support. Mrs
Maryam Abacha was so supportive of her
husband, while everybody condemned him, and
long after his death, she has continued to
celebrate his memory. Before her, Mrs Maryam
Babangida brought greater colour and celebrity
status to the Office of the First Lady and added
much value to her husband’s tenure.
Mrs Fati Abubakar was a dignified presence
behind her husband, the same with Mrs Margaret
Shonekan. President Olusegun Obasanjo had as
First Lady, the very elegant and beautiful Stella
Obasanjo who mobilized support and goodwill for
her husband. Turai Yar’Adua, wife of the late
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was also so
devoted to her husband’s cause, she was
declared the head of the Aso Rock cabal. No
one doubted her determination to protect her
husband’s interest during those critical moments.
You all know Mrs Patience Jonathan. She was
as First Lady, her husband’s most vocal
supporter. This brought her at loggerheads with
some sections of the public who objected to her
prominence and controversial statements, but
not once did she or the other First Ladies before
her, criticize their husbands in public.
Elsewhere, First Ladies also support their
husbands. With all the reported cases of
dalliance and cuckoldry during the Bill Clinton
Presidency, Hillary Clinton stood by her husband.
Michelle Obama has also proven to be a very
good role model in this regard. Certain positions
require careful grooming. Any form of tension in
the home could distract a political leader and
make him seem vulnerable in the eyes of the
public. Mrs Aisha Buhari may have spoken her
mind, but she should not make a habit of
assuming the role of a radical, in-house critic,
throwing her husband under the wheels. She
ought to be thoroughly embarrassed by all the
fun being poked at her husband because of that
BBC Hausa interview she granted. How this
matter is resolved between their kitchen and
“the other room” is a family affair into which we
cannot dabble.
Source : www.thebreakingtimes.com/aisha-buhari-and-that-bbc-interview-by-reuben-abati/

.

How this matter is resolved between their kitchen and
“the other room” is a family affair into which we
cannot dabble.

Case closed.

Chai! i doubt if buhari can survive the OTHER ROOM , he looks too weak to take aisha buhari to the level of cloud 9..... blessed be the young man that is servicing aisha buhari................

Buhari is a disaster.

He can't handle his home and woman but wants to take up the unsolicited challenge of dictating the fate of millions of families in nigeria.

This is his second marriage and one apparently destined for another divorce. That ought to tell you that this man is so repulsively stubborn and arrogant.

One thing is certain about Buhari and that is his ability to commit serial failures back to back.

His last despotic reign at the top was no different from what I are witnessing and as things stand will surely be booted out con what may by 2010.

abokibuhari:
Chai! i doubt if buhari can survive the OTHER ROOM , he looks too weak to take aisha buhari to the level of cloud 9..... blessed be the young man that is servicing aisha buhari................

Guy women from the ages of 35 up to menopause which Aisha at 42 fall into need sex like crazy.

How can the gangling old weakling even compete?