Ruling Nigeria by proxy

Who is in charge of the government of Nigeria? Are Nigerians being ruled by persons they never elected? These questions have become pertinent following Wednesday’s outburst by Mrs Aisha Buhari, wife of the president, who sensationally announced that her husband’s spokesman, at least on one occasion, took instructions from a private citizen, and issued a presidential statement based on that instruction. If that is true, we are compelled to ask how many of such clearly illegal ‘presidential’ statements have been issued from Aso Rock.

It takes a particular level of frustration with her circumstances for the wife of the president to spill the beans on happenings within the inner sanctum of presidential power. But that is exactly what Mrs Buhari has done in a signed statement she released on Wednesday, December 11.

The First Lady occupies a paradoxical place in the Nigerian power hierarchy. Her position is technically unknown to the constitution, but the fact that she shares the same bedroom with, and has almost unmediated access to the president puts her in a position to wield considerable influence. Due to their placement, First Ladies are typically the most fervent defenders of the political status quo; hence, the only plausible inference from Mrs. Buhari’s decision to launch a ferocious attack on the two people comprising President Buhari’s inner circle (the president’s nephew, Mamman Daura, and his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu), is that things have gone desperately wrong in Aso Rock.

The crux of Mrs. Buhari’s statement, entitled “Garba Shehu Has Gone Beyond His Boundaries,” is that, egged on by the octogenarian Daura and other shadowy figures, Mr. Shehu has worked assiduously to undermine her office as First Lady, eventuating in a reported directive from Daura to Shehu to issue a statement purportedly scrapping the office of the First Lady. Here is the relevant portion of Mrs. Buhari’s statement: “Rather than face his responsibility squarely, he [Garba Shehu] 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.” Other accusations against Mr. Shehu in the statement include waging “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,” and a “misguided sense of loyalty and inability to stay true and loyal to one person or group.”

As indicated above, Mr. Shehu is not the only one who has caused Mrs. Buhari so much vexation. Also in her epistolary crosshairs is Mr. Daura, who, despite having no official portfolio, reportedly lived inside the presidential villa with his family between 2015-2019, gives official directives, and who, according to Mrs. Buhari, “invaded my family’s privacy through a video circulated by Mamman’s daughter, Fatima,” thus giving the public “the impression that on arrival into the country, I was locked out of the villa by Mr. President.” Mrs. Buhari deserves credit for acting against her best conservatory instincts and showing Nigerians that, behind the façade of political amity, all is not well in the Presidential Villa. She is right as well that what happens in the seat of power has ramifications for all Nigerians; and, most crucially, that “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 endeavour. It is not a good sign when officials abandoned (sic) their responsibility and start clutching at straws.”

But Mrs. Buhari’s disclosures, while well-meaning, are also problematic, and we beg to demur on a couple of vital points. She says in her statement that the “First Lady’s office is a tradition which has become an institution.” Very well, but she does not say what kind of institution, and conveniently omits the fact that there is no constitutional or legal grounding for the office whose duties she purportedly exercises. Nor does she mention that, in 2014, while running for office, her husband had promised Nigerians that there would be no office of First Lady under his presidency, and that she, Mrs. Buhari herself, once promised not to bring back the office of the First Lady. In a January 2015 interview, Mrs. Buhari had said: “When my husband is elected as the president of this country, we will rule the country within the rule of law based on the constitution of the country. If the office of the First Lady is constitutionally recognised, he will not tamper with it, but if it is not, that’s okay. For me, I will perform my duties and role as the wife of the president of Nigeria traditionally.”

Yet, in July 2018, Buhari went back on his promise with the announcement of the appointment of 10 aides for the offices of the wives of the president and vice president, effectively reinstating the pageantry, the overindulgence, and the panoply that had been associated with the First Ladyship from President Babangida (1985-1993) onwards. Today, Mrs. Buhari alone is served by a Senior Special Assistant on Administration, a personal physician, a Special Assistant on Administration II, a Special Assistant on Protocol, and a Special Assistant on Domestic Matters. It goes without saying that, because the office of the First Lady remains unconstitutional, the appurtenant appointments are, by definition, ultra vires. Mrs. Buhari’s missive conveniently ignores this fact.

Its signal omissions notwithstanding, Mrs. Buhari’s missive offers excellent insight into the obtuse workings of the Buhari administration, such that if Mrs. Buhari had in fact intended to portray her husband in a good light, she clearly misjudged. On the whole, the letter throws additional petrol on the fire of the suspicion many Nigerians have long harboured regarding who controls the levers of power under her husband’s presidency. Why, for example, would Mamman Daura live in Aso Rock with his family for four years despite that the fact that he occupies no official position? Furthermore, why would someone who holds no public office, and who, to all intents and purposes, is unknown to the constitution, issue a directive purportedly scrapping the office of the First Lady? Why scrap an office that, according to the administration, never existed? If President Buhari is intent on clipping the wings of Mrs. Buhari, why not do it himself? Who exactly is in control in Aso Rock?

The latter, as it happens, has been the question on the lips of every Nigerian since Mrs. Buhari’s statement was posted on her Twitter handle, and it lends a Groundhog Day quality to the character of the Nigerian presidency on the watch of President Buhari. More to the point, it adds another layer to mounting evidence that Buhari’s is an administration based on pure instinct as opposed to some clear overarching principles.

Unfortunately, Buhari can have no complaints that he is so perceived. After nearly five years in the saddle, his reputation as a fastidious anti-corruption crusader has slowly unravelled; he has not been a performer when it comes to the management of the economy; the country he inherited in May 2015 is less safe in his hands, and his overall presentation has been absolutely feckless and unfortunate. Most worryingly, his military style of governance has resurfaced under this democratic dispensation. His repeated disregard of repeated court rulings ordering the release of human rights advocate Omoyele Sowore is one of several examples of his administration’s barely disguised contempt for the rule of law.

The President Buhari that Nigerians are now having to contend with—intransigent, distracted, utterly aloof—is not the one they signed up for. He should take heed and listen to sound advice, lest the country collapse on his watch. And this is urgent. The unconstitutionality of the office of the First Lady notwithstanding, we strongly affirm that Mrs Buhari’s expose on the dysfunctionality of her husband’s presidency deserves a probe by the legislature. It will be a tragedy for Africa’s biggest democracy to helplessly abandon its destiny and its sovereignty to a band of unelected, masked men and women.