Buhari responds to his wife's allegations saying they prove that he is a democrat who gives people a free hand

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has responded to the allegations made by his wife Aisha that members of a cabal operating behind the scenes have taken over the running of his government by saying they prove how democratic and open his administration is.

In an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, Hadjia Aisha Buhari had alleged that her husband was being controlled by a cabal and had threatened not to campaign for him if things continued that way. At the time, President Buhari dismissed that statement by saying his wife belonged to the kitchen and the other room but over the last few weeks, she has repeated them, saying two shadowy characters run the government.

Hadjia Buhari said: “The president does not know 45 out of 50 of the people he appointed and I don’t know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years. Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position.”

While speaking at a leadership summit in Abuja earlier this month, Hadjia Buhari challenged Nigerians to fight the two or three people who have dominated this government. It is widely believed that Alhaji Mamman Daura and the chief of staff in the presidency Alhaji Abba Kyari are the two people she was referring to.

“Our votes were 15.4m in the last election and after that only for us to be dominated by two people, this is totally unacceptable. If 15.4m people can bring in a government and only for the government to be dominated by two people or three people, where are the men of Nigeria?

"Where are the Nigerian men? What are you doing? Instead of them to come together and fight them, they keep visiting them one after the other licking their shoes," Hadjia Buhari added.

However, during a Christmas Day Voice of America chat, an interviewer asked President Buhari to formally respond to the allegations in the light of his wife’s recent statement. In response, President Buhari said if true, the claims negate stories that he dies not give people in his government a free hand.

He added:  “It shows I am a real democrat. What they are saying is different from what is happening. Those making these allegations should come out and say those things they feel were stage-managed by the cabal, which I was forced to do. They should mention just one thing.”

However, Nigeria's main opposition, the People Democratic Party (PDP) has urged President Buhari not run away from the allegations levelled against him by his wife. According to the PDP, the president had tactically admitted to the existence of a cabal in his government by claiming that the allegation had shown that he was a democrat.

PDP national Prince Uche Secondus, said: “I read what the president said about the allegation by his wife. He tried in vain to trivialise it but he failed.

“The president should not run away from the issue raised by his wife, who by her position and privilege is the closest person to him. The president should not try to be sarcastic, he should not trivialise such a serious allegation. 

"He is claiming to be a democrat by the allegation and yet he is also asking the same wife to come and substantiate the same allegation. The president should not take us for a ride, so he should rather come clean on it instead of trying to trivialise it.”

Besides, the president’s wife, some of his allies including the comptroller-general of Customs, Col Hameed Ali, had alleged that those who were in the frontlines during President Buhari’s struggle for power were relegated to the background while those who were nowhere during the struggle were calling the shots. He even alleged that members of and supporters of the PDP who he claimed constituted 50% of those holding public office were responsible for the president’s perceived failures.