Aisha Buhari and her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari
First Lady, Aisha Buhari has come down heavy on presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu accusing him of going beyond his limit.
According to reports by DailyTrust,
it all started after the President’s wife alleged that Alhaji Mamman
Daura gave a presidential directive without her husband’s knowledge
using Garba Shehu.
Mamman Daura is President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew who lives in Glass House inside the presidential villa.
The feud between the first lady and Daura’s family worsened in October when she returned from a two-month foreign trip.
It became public knowledge when a video of the president’s wife
asking questions and making comments about being locked out of a room
and demanding that some people should pack their belongings went viral.
She engaged Daura’s daughter, Fatima.
Daily Trust had exclusively reported in September that the first
lady angered by the development in the villa, left for abroad in August.
The feud festered when she returned.
The first lady in a statement she personally signed and made
available to Daily Trust on Wednesday morning, said the directive
scrapping the office of the first lady was issued by Mamman Daura, using
a presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu.
Tagged,” Garba Shehu Has Gone Beyond His Boundaries”, she said the directive embarrassed the president.
The statement which was sent to our correspondent through Suleiman Haruna’s email, Aisha Buhari’s spokesperson reads: ”Nigeria’s
development is hinged on the ability of public officials to execute
their mandates professionally, and to be shining examples in their
various areas of endeavor. It is not a good sign when officials
abandoned their responsibility and start clutching at straws.
“As spokesperson of the President, he has the onerous
responsibility of managing the image of the President and all the good
works that he is executing in the country. Rather than face this
responsibility squarely, he has shifted his loyalty from the President
to others who have no stake in the compact that the President signed
with Nigerians on May 29, 2015 and 2019.
‘To make matters worse, Mr. Shehu has presented himself to
these people as a willing tool and executioner of their antics, from the
corridors of power even to the level of interfering with the family
affairs of the President. This should not be so. The blatant meddling in
the affairs of a First Lady of a country is a continuation of the
prodigal actions of those that he serves.
“We all remember that the chief proponent appropriated to
himself and his family a part of the Presidential Villa, where he stayed
for almost 4 years and when the time came for him to leave, he
orchestrated and invaded my family’s privacy through a video circulated
by Mamman’s Daughter, Fatima, the public was given the impression that
on arrival into the country I was locked out of the villa by Mr.
President. Garba Shehu as Villa Spokesperson, knew the truth and had the
responsibility to set the records straight, but because his allegiance
is somewhere else and his loyalty misplaced, he deliberately refused to
clear the air and speak for the President who appointed him in the first
place. Consequently, his action has shown a complete breakdown of trust
between the First Family and him.
” Mr. Shehu was privy and part of the plan and it’s execution
and he was shocked when he realized that I had publicized my return to
Nigeria on October 12, 2019 and cleared the air on the many rumors that
took over social media, a job he was supposed to do but kept mute to
cause more confusion and instability for his Principal and his family.
“Garba then, vented his anger on the National Television
Authority (NTA) Management insisting that the media crew to my office
must be sacked. He succeeded in getting them suspended for doing their
job. I had to intervene to save the innocent staff from losing their
means of livelihood by involving the Department of State Services (DSS)
in order to ascertain roles played by key actors in the saga.
“It is at this late hour that I recall, sadly, that it was the
same Garba Shehu who claimed that the government will not allow office
of the First Lady to run. He was later to confirm to one of my aides
that he was instructed to say so by Mamman Daura and not the President.
This antic attracted the anger of Nigerian women. He didn’t realize the
fact that First Lady’s office is a tradition which has become an
institution.
“Today, even without a budget, I am able to run my humanitarian programmes.
In saner climes, Garba Shehu would have resigned immediately after going beyond his boundaries and powers.
“GARBA SHEHU NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR WILL NO LONGER BE TOLERATED.
“The latest of his antics was to wage a war on the first family
through an orchestrated media campaign of calumny by sponsoring pseudo
accounts to write and defame my children and myself.
“Based on Garba Shehu’s misguided sense of loyalty and
inability to stay true and loyal to one person or group, it has become
apparent that all trust has broken down between him and my family due to
the many embarrassments he has caused the Presidency and the first
family. We all have families to consider in our actions and therefore it
is in the best interest of all concerned for Garba Shehu to take the
advice of the authority, given to him sometimes in the first week of
November, 2019.”
Haruna in a text message confirmed that the statement emanated from the first lady.
A source around Garba Shehu said the spokesperson will not want to join issues with the first lady.