by Ezinne Ajoku

Lack of Media Coverage

I know Aisha Buhari is not an elected official but still she is the First Lady of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Which means that it is rather suspicious to have her travel to the United States shortly after Fayose’s allegations against her as someone involved in a court case in that country; considering the fact that we do not have any media outlets over there to corroborate her claims of making television appearances, interviews in front of the white house, meetings with POTUS and FLOTUS etc.

The only interview she had was with the Hausa Service of Voice of America. Are you kidding me? So she left Nigeria to do a radio interview with a Hausa station? Whatever happened to BBC Hausa Nigeria? Has she even granted them an interview here? Is our First Lady so unimportant to the political global landscape and so inconspicuous to foreign media that her trip is not worthy of a single mention?

Absence of Presidential official statements announcing her travel plans

Nigerians do not do things in halves. Usually an official trip is preempted or accompanied by an official announcement. We did not hear such an announcement from the First Lady’s spokesperson, or that of the President for that matter.

And no, this is not a matter of humility. It is a matter of keeping the Nigerian citizenry in the know. Moreover, if this trip was a way to debunk the allegations that she is barred from travelling to the United States, an official announcement would have been a nice way of sticking it to Fayose.

Absence of foreign dignitaries

Northern wives received her. Hausa Service of VOA interviewed her. That’s it? No visit to the white house; even if only for sight seeing? No foreign governor came around? What of Nigerian students abroad? Nothing? Something’s fishy.

Apparently, Aisha Buhari’s trip was for fund raising purposes, which begs the question

Where was she looking to get donors from if no one heard about it? Why was the media not involved, both at home and abroad? Like minded foreign NGO’s were also not referenced. Why? Who are the people she met with? Why were the meetings all hush? This move reads shifty to me.

Fear

These corruption allegations leveled against Aisha Buhari are grave. In fact, answering to this allegation by Fayose below is a big deal because of who her husband is- a much touted corruption fighter. So if this is the case, why was this trip cloaked in secrecy?

“In the judgment delivered by the United State District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, USA, in criminal No 1: 07CR209, that indicted the US Congressman, Williams Jefferson, it was mentioned that $170,000 was transferred from account in Nigeria in the name of Aisha Buhari to an account in the name of The ANJ Group, LLC, identifying William Jefferson as beneficiary?”

A good name is better than riches, it is said. So why is Aisha Buhari not using every evidence available to her (including this trip) to clear up her name from this mess? Is she trying to avoid the courts from finding out she is there? Again, this smells funny.