Buzz by Olumide Iyanda
Email: oiyanda@yahoo.com Twitter: @mightyng
General Muhammadu Buhari unwittingly set a trap for himself when he declared during his election campaign that there will not be an Office of the First Lady if he is elected President. His words: “The (office of) First Lady is not in the constitution, so there’s no official role for them.” Institutions like the Ministry of Women Affairs, he pointed out, should be allowed to carry out their roles.
In his quest to break from the excesses of the past and ensure that what happens in the boardroom is not carried over to the bedroom, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate forgot something that his wife was to later clarify. Speaking at a campaign initiative for women, Hajia Aisha Buhari explained that “Wives of presidents have some traditional roles, like receiving guests, visiting orphanages, helping the less privileged people.”
Given the manner in which everyone from wives of local government councillors to Heads of State have abused their position in the past, Buhari’s statement was music to the ears of millions of Nigerians. And with Dame Patience Jonathan the one actually wearing the bowler hat in Aso Rock back then, a wife who is seen but seldom heard seemed an ideal choice going forward.
A challenge, however, came shortly after Buhari was sworn in as President. On June 13, his spouse, with her preferred tag of Wife of the President, hosted women and youths at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to celebrate her husband’s victory at the March 28 presidential poll. In attendance were APC chieftains and other eminent personalities. Critics of the new administration were quick to argue that the President had gone back on his promise not to accord special recognition to the First Lady. It made little difference that invitation cards to the event bore the seal of Wife of the President. They insisted that the nomenclature might have changed but the principle remains the same.
Then came news that Mrs Buhari had moved into the office vacated by her predecessor, the colourful Dame Patience. Reports indicated that she hosted some women leaders, the less privileged and youths at the Villa during the Ramadan period. Her office, in conjunction with a United Kingdom-based private firm, also organised a seminar on protocol, etiquette and security for wives of state governors. The brewing controversy over the use of the First Lady’s office forced a reaction from the Presidency, with Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, over the weekend describing the reports as “totally false and fictitious”. He was at pain to stress that the Office of the Wife of the President shall be completely different from what obtained in the past, saying that the era of First Ladies issuing oil wells and licenses was gone.
“President Buhari promised that there would be a clear difference between the role played by his wife during his tenure and that played by many previous First Ladies. All that ostentation, ubiquitousness and arrogance we have come to expect from the office are over and done with. Change has come,” Shehu pointed out. He continued: “The ideal platform from which she will be useful to Nigeria’s women and children is still being thought out. Once this has been concluded on, Mrs. Buhari’s role will become clearer to all Nigerians. There will be nothing shady or hidden about it. There will be no access to public funds. It will be purely private and voluntary.”
Good talk. Question is, is the title of Wife of the President in the Constitution? Did the fact that former presidential spouses abuse their privileges mean there is something patently wrong with the First Lady title? What difference does a name make really?
Whether we choose to refer to her as First Lady or Wife of the President, the spouse of the country’s leader automatically assumes the role of helper to her husband in the State House. It is a convention that does not need an act of Parliament to become acceptable. A quick check on Wikipedia shows that “the Office of the First Lady of the United States is accountable to the First Lady of the United States for her to carry out her duties as hostess of the White House, and is also in charge of all social and ceremonial events of the White House. The First Lady has her own staff that includes the White House Social Secretary, a Chief of Staff, Press Secretary, Chief Floral Designer, Executive Chef, etc. The Office of the First Lady is an entity of the White House Office, part of the Executive Office of the President.” The role, style and location of office within the White House may change with each President but the office is recognised. Holders of the title carry themselves with dignity and steer clear of state matters.
Nigeria needs a First Lady that epitomises the best of our women. One that clearly has a life of her own without meddling in who gets what in Abuja or Daura. What we do not need is a First Lady that vets ministerial appointments, summons heads of government agencies to her office for a dress down, runs a parallel government with wives of governors as errand girls or troubles the governor of her home state. It is a notorious fact that successive wives of Nigerian Presidents tend to want to outdo their predecessors in nuisance value. The challenge is for Mrs Buhari to carry herself with the dignity her position demands. Writing off the Office of the First Lady because of the licentiousness of the past is like throwing the baby away with the bath water.
Whatever role the Presidency fashions out for Mrs Buhari, she will need aides and staff to carry out her assignments. By virtue of her position and security implication, it is expected that she operates from Aso Rock. She will surely need an office space within the Villa. All that does not have to cost an arm and a leg.
While the Presidency still humours itself with the Wife of the President title, Mrs Buhari has accepted the position of Head of Africa’s First Ladies. Her colleagues across the continent do not care what she calls herself. She could be Mother of the Nation for all they care.
