Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, has told the BBC she will not campaign for her husband’s re-election in 2019 if he does not shake up his government.
The 45-year-old said President Muhammadu Buhari had not told her whether he would contest the 2019 election.
“He is yet to tell me but I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again.”
An exasperated Mrs Buhari said the President “does not know” most of the top officials he has appointed.
She suggested the government had been hijacked, saying a “few people” were behind presidential appointments.
Her decision to go public with her concerns will shock many people, but it shows the level of discontent with the President’s leadership, says the BBC’s Naziru Mikailu in the capital, Abuja.
Buhari had promised before and after his election last year to go after corruption and nepotism
He famously remarked at his inauguration that he “belongs to nobody and belongs to everybody”.
But his appointments have been heavily criticised for favouring people from the North.
In the interview with Naziru Mikailu, Mrs Buhari said: “The president does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I don’t know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years.”
She said people who did not share the vision of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were now appointed to top posts because of the influence a “few people” wield.
“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.”
Asked to name those who had hijacked the government, she refused, saying: “You will know them if you watch television.”
On whether the president was in charge, she said: “That is left for the people to decide.”
The BBC is believed to have defied pressure from the Presidency which attempted to stop the interview broadcast.
