April 14 is an important day to Nigerians – for the single reason that 276 Chibok girls were abducted by Boko Haram insurgents on this particular day, two years ago.
While 57 of the girls have since returned home, 219 are still missing, their locations and general well-being unknown.
And since the Chibok girls are still in captivity, Nigerians are bound -not just by patriotism but by the simple fact that we are all humans with loved ones- to keep vigil and hold April 14 sacred until the girls are rescued from the claws of the insurgents.
However, while Nigerians were marking the day with series of activities, the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, herself a mother to nine children, was launching her book on beauty.
The book, entitled – ‘Essentials of Beauty Therapy’, was birthed by Aisha Buhari’s years of experience as a beautician.
Although the President’s wife insists that proceeds from the book launch will be donated to the parents of the kidnapped Chibok girls, it remains to be seen if holding the event on April 14, was not an attempt by the Presidency to avoid interfacing with the BringBackOurGirls movement, especially after the not so friendly reception the group and the girls’ parents received from the Presidency during their last visit to the Presidential villa.
The launch of the book was well attended – by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, his wife Dolapo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation David Babachir Lawal, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, Kogi state governor, Yahaya Bello, Pastor Tunde Bakare, former Cross River governor, Donald Duke, among other public figures.
But the attendance of these personalities was to the detriment of the BringBackOurGirls movement who were neither received by any government official nor were they allowed access into the villa, as anti-riot police were strategically placed at the villa gate to deny access to them.
Many have opined that the book launch amounted to a distraction from the Chibok girls and shifted attention away from the series of activities to commemorate the day, thus ridiculing, belittling and making light of the travails of the girls -who, for all intent and purposes, should be remembered for at least a day.
Perhaps Mrs. Buhari’s decision to donate the proceeds of the book to the abducted girls’ parent is a publicity strategy to cover up the inappropriateness and gross display of insensitivity to the pains of the Chibok girls’ parent by scheduling her book launch on such a significant day.
Furthermore, there’s the suspicious decision of Aisha Buhari to hide the amount donated by several prominent personalities that attended the book launch.
While the reason for this secret donation is yet to be made clear, it is utterly hypocritical for an administration that parades itself as transparent and anti-corrupt to shield information that would have justified the sole concept on which the administration built itself and came to power on.
Perhaps Aisha Buhari, who has generally shied away from issues of state and has stayed in the shadows of her taciturn husband, has something to hide in regards to how much of the donations she intends to give to the Chibok parents?
