Buhari’s other room and reminiscences of our Egypt

Sir: With the way Nigerians have made a stupendous parody of President Muhammadu Buhari’s response to the interview his wife, Aisha, had with the BBC, it is more appropriate to assume that there is more than ordinary meaning to the phrase ‘the other room.’

But wherever that room is, is not the subject of interest to Nigerians, especially the army of opposition social media freelancers, who have been feasting on the presidential faux pas. What is more important to them is the narrative they are so eager to push out and make it look as if the president has committed an irredeemable sin.

Of course, the president talked a sentence too much in responding to the allegations made by his wife in that controversial interview, but the truth of the matter is that the very reason Nigerians adore the president is for the very reason that he is an honest man who calls a spade by its name. That is the essentially Buhari that Nigerians voted as president – a man who wouldn’t sugar-coat the truth for the convenience of space and time.

It may be true that President Buhari was politically incorrect with the remarks he gave about the role of his wife in their marriage, but no one can accuse the president of stifling the economic and social mobility of his wife in a manner that suggests that the president is a hater of women or that he is against the empowerment of women. With due respect to the personalities of past first ladies Nigerians have come across in recent times, Mrs. Aisha Buhari elegantly cuts the image and character of a progressive businesswoman with a name to herself beyond the business of her husband. I cannot recall any other first lady who has a business brand to her name the way Mrs. Buhari does as a fashion magnate and that tells a whole lot about who her husband is.

It is rather ironical that many of those who today are lampooning the president of reducing his wife to living room attendant are people who did not provide a room for their wives to explore their business orientations.

And, truth be told! This is Africa and in this part of the world, the primary responsibility of married women is to look after their homes. No responsible wife in this country will want another person to usurp her role as the custodian of the home front.

If President Buhari doesn’t want his wife to dabble in the world of politics so be it! It seems to me that much of the bad commentary being run on the president on this matter is the handiwork of PDP’s social media freelancers. We are all living witnesses to the immediate past administration and how the former first lady’s larger than life presence in the political arena was roundly condemned by Nigerians.

• Balogun, writes from Isheri, Ogun State.