From JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, Berlin, Germany
President Muhammadu Buhari has responded to his wife’s threat not to mobilize for him in the next election if he doesn’t rejig his cabinet, saying, she belongs to his kitchen, living room and bedroom.
Mrs Buhari in a BBC interview said the President “does not know” most of the top officials he appointed. She warned that she may not back him at the next election unless he shakes up his cabinet.
She suggested the government had been hijacked by a cabal, saying only a “few people” were behind presidential appointments.
But responding to a question on his wife’s threat at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, after a closed door meeting, Buhari said, having sought election for 12 years and succeeded at the fourth attempt and fought to claim his mandate up to the Supreme Court on the three previous attempts, he was more knowledgeable and experienced than her.
He said, “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but my wife belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room.” Continuing, he added, “It is not easy to do away with opposition or people who did not follow you along your campaign trail. I hope my wife will remember that I was in the field for 12 years, I tried three times, the fourth time I managed to succeed. And I ended up the first three times in the Nigerian Supreme Court, so I claim superior knowledge over her and the rest of the opposition and I succeeded. It is not easy to satisfy the whole Nigerian opposition or to participate in the government.”
Buhari narrated briefly to journalists what he met on ground, which included a troubled economy with oil price nose-diving from about $100 per barrel to less than $40 resulting; 27 of the 36 states of the federation not being able pay salaries, adding “We had very serious economic problems. We had problem of security, economy, corruption which we are doing are best to eliminate”.
He repeated how the Boko Haram insurgents have been degraded, saying, the country has turned its attention to agriculture, calling on potential investors to invest in solid minerals.
On the Niger Delta, the President said talks were on going with the leadership of the militants, the traditional rulers, and oil companies that have operated in the region for over 30 years. He said, “we are talking to them to cease fire because government has the capacity to deal with them the way we dealt with Boko Haram. It is in the interest of Nigeria, that this matter is being considered through discussion, as a much more civil way of running the administration”.
On the Chibok girls, Buhari spoke on the release of 21 of them, adding that about 100 more were still in the hands of the terrorist somewhere in the Lake Chad Basin area which include Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.
He said, “In getting this 21 out, we hope we will get enough intelligence to go about securing the rest of them.
However, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, says President Buhari respects women, citing the appointment of Kemi Adeosun, finance minister, as a demonstration of that.
Reacting to the media frenzy ignited by Buhari’s statement that his wife Aisha belonged in the kitchen, Shehu said that Buhari was only joking.
“My friends, can’t a leader get a sense humour any more? Mr. President laughed before that statement was made,” he said.
”He was obviously throwing a banter.
“Politics sometimes should be spiced with humour. Those of us close to him know there is never a dull moment with him.
“Mr. President respects the place of women in our society. He believes in the abilities of women.
“One of Nigeria’s most sensitive office today is headed by a woman, Mrs. Adeosun. This is an evidence of the confidence he reposes on women.”
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