Buhari And The First Lady’ “Plaque”

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    Since 1957, when Nigerian Delegates sat to deliberate at the
    1957 Constitutional Conference, there has always been the presence of women.
    Although Nigerian Politics have been dominated by men, women have somehow found
    ways to perform “office” functions. The concept of having a First Lady in
    Nigeria could be rightly traced to the period of Lady Flora Lugard, the wife of
    Lord Frederick Lugard, first colonial Governor-General of Nigeria (the man, who
    in 1914 unified the northern and southern protectorate of Nigeria into one
    country). It is to her credit that the country got her name, Nigeria.

    With her 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory and 774
    local government areas, Nigeria is believed to have over 800 women who enjoy
    this position of eminence as ‘first among equals’.
    Although there is no constitutional provision for the office
    of the first lady, material and personnel resources of the state are usually
    deployed to service it with impunity.
    At Nigeria’s independence, Mrs. Flora Azikiwe was known as
    Nigeria’s First Lady and she frequently attended state functions with her
    husband. After her were a few First Ladies that are prominent despite the
    relative short time they spent in “office” (State house). One of them is
    Victoria Aguyi-Ironsi. Although, the succeeding government’s First Lady,
    Victoria Gowon, stayed in the State House for only eight years, her presence
    was equally felt in several public appearances.
    When democracy returned in 1999, Stella Obasanjo, the First
    Lady of Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo transformed the public
    view of her “office”. She began her shine, when she started several activism
    campaigns for release of her husband after he was imprisoned in 1995 for taking
    part in a coup to overthrow the government. Her activities spurred females to
    be strong and independent, and as such gathered wide support.
    She once commented that even though her husband had made a
    commitment to improving living conditions in Nigeria, “things will
    continue to deteriorate in the country unless more women were allowed to
    participate in governance.” Considering, the impacts many of these “First
    Ladies”, it might be easy to assume that at least one political office holder
    is concerned about the welfare of the masses. If the Politicians don’t care,
    and their wives show half as much as is required, then fine.
    But rights groups and journalists have continuously rejected
    these notions.
    The All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate
    for 2015 in the forthcoming general election, General Mohammed Buhari has
    promised to shut down the office of the first lady describing it as illegal or
    unconstitutional, he noted that his wife will act as one who provides moral
    support for the government as a mother to all Nigerians without necessarily
    wearing the garb as a first lady or live a flamboyant lifestyle that first
    ladies are known for in Nigeria. The big question is whether or not Buhari can
    make good his promise to curtail the excesses of first ladies?
    In the past, some first ladies wielded some powers and lived
    a larger than life lifestyle using tax payers’ money without accountability.
    Also notable is the antics of some first ladies to command and control some
    political powers by endorsing political candidates for election which usually
    will not allow for a level playing ground among contestants. These has
    degenerated a lot of crisis and interparty brouhaha.
    In fact the latest trend is for first ladies to want to
    combine their unconstitutional role with elective offices or control the
    apparatus of political parties. A point in case, is that of the first lady of
    Kogi State Mrs. Farida Ijeoma Wada, the wife of the current governor of Kogi
    State who tried to use the position of her husband as a seating governor to
    grab a seat at the Federal house of representative in Abia state where she
    hails from under the People Democratic Party.
    She tried everything within her power to grab the ticket of
    the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to represent Ikwuano Umuahia Federal
    consitutency at the House Representative. Even when it was obvious that she
    could not win the primary election as she was not popular, she refused to step
    down like some other contestant and she was floored at the polls.
    The big question therefore is, when and who will interpret
    the constitution to our politicians that there is no constitutional rule for
    the office for the first lady office but an aberration, a misuse of power and a
    waste of tax payment, the earlier this is resolved the better for the country
    as it will save the country several millions of Naira been allocated to the
    unconstitutional office which can now be redirected to more useful ventures
    that will benefit the citizenry and also help to make politics less attractive
    to politicians.
    Although, some of these initiatives of these first ladies
    like the Women for change initiative of the current First Lady, Dame Patience
    Jonathan has contributed to giving the women a voice. What seems to define the
    image of the office of the first lady are the excesses of some of its
    occupants.

    It remains to be seen whether Buhari’s pledge to scrap the
    office would achieve positive strides for the womenfolk.  

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