I am no diehard Buharist but I will always maintain that he is a better choice in comparison to what we had in PDP Administration. Like I always made it clear in the past, Buhari was the best between two undesirable options. To this extent the old and frail man still has my unwavering support. Having laid this foundation, now to the main issue.
The President is trending once again for the wrong reasons. At a public forum in Germany, apparently in an attempt to make light of his wife's recent disparaging interviews with BBC Africa, President Buhari pontificated that his wife "belongs to the kitchen", "the bedroom" and "the other room".
Now I am no Feminist (as if that is even news) but I think those remarks by Mr. President were unfortunate and condemnable. And they are condemnable not because they do not fit into modern politically-correct narratives of what is Presidential, but because no human and human potentials should be confined to the kitchen or any part of the room as if he or she were some Furniture. Every human should be able to maximize their God-given potentials.
However, it would be remiss of me not to balance the scale here. Mr. President erred but Madam Aisha too goofed. Yes. She goofed NOT as a Woman. She goofed as a Wife!
Before you put on your gauntlet and hold me by the jugular, I appeal to men of reason and goodwill to think about what I'm trying to say. It is my honest belief that Mrs. Aisha Buhari got carried away. Power is like that. It makes you lose control whilst thinking you are in charge, only to discover later that you are in place but not in charge. At some point, the "Wife of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria" forgot her role FIRST as a 'Wife' and then SECOND her role as a 'Citizen', in that order.
To President Buhari she is first and always a Wife. Wives, no matter the circumstances and temptations, do not PUBLICLY expose their husbands. They shield them and protect them. Wise wives can be the voice of reason and pillar of support to their husbands in private but they are by virtue of marriage NOT permitted to wash their husbands' dirty linens in PUBLIC. NEVER!
Even if the husband mocks reason and rebuffs the wife's constant private admonitions, correcting him publicly and warning him openly would be seen as a sign of a sinking marriage rather than a sign of strength of womanhood. It makes the husband look incapable of owning his home, not to mention the issue of bruised ego of a husband which every loving wife must protect. When she protects him she protects herself. Marriage is that delicate.
Mrs. Aisha Buhari may have scored a point with Feminists and Secularists, but coming publicly to threaten to withdraw further political support from your husband should he remain obstinate is Marriage Blunder 101. A blunder Mrs. Aisha is soon to regret. A wife's support for her husband shouldn't be conditional. Let her ask women who exposed their husbands in that manner in the past and learn wisdom.
Even Hillary Clinton, despite many substantiated sex scandals of Bill Clinton, publicly shielded him from attacks. In the College of Marriage, therefore, Hillary Clinton is a wise wife. She did not get carried away by the intoxication of the Office of First Lady to Mr. President. She remained loyal and focused beside him AS WIFE!
My conclusion? Mrs. Aisha Buhari got carried away and abandoned her first 'Office' as "Wife of the President". She is NOT an Opposition! She had no business making those disparaging remarks in public as a wife when she knew or ought to have reasonably known it would empower the Opposition against her husband. Not to mention that what she did was politically naive.
In a nutshell, the Wife of the President and the President, in what looked like a typical case of the third law of motion, have successfully violated the sanctity of marriage. They both represent the 'First Marriage' in the most populous black nation in the Universe and they both goofed!
Written by Olakunle Allison
www.facebook.com/barr.olakunleallison
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