SAN FRANCISCO, October 15, (THEWILL) – Wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, has spoken on the power struggles at the State House giving details of how her husband’s relatives, the Dauras, physically confronted her.
In an interview with BBC Hausa, Aisha said she was the person in a recently circulated video and that she reacted after being denied access to parts of the villa by Buhari’s nephew, Mamman Daura and his family.
In the video, the President’s wife, was heard asking questions and making comments about being locked out of a room and demanding that some people should pack their belongings and leave the apartment.
Although she confirmed the authenticity of the video which was recorded by Daura’s daughter, Fatima, she said the incident did not happen recently.
“I was the one in that video and this person you see standing at my back are my security personnel,” the first lady said.
“It was Fatima, the daughter of Mamman Daura that shot the video in front of my security and everybody there. She was actually recording the whole thing right in front of me and was laughing and mocking me.
“They did that because my husband sacked them from the house. He told them to get all their belongings and leave the house for my son (Yusuf) to occupy.
“I left them and wanted to get to one of the rooms but they prevented me from getting through, I left them and took another way yet I met the store locked,” she said.
On her part, Fatima, in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, said she recorded the incident to provide proof for her parents and security officials in an event “something happens.”
Fatima said, “Her comments frightened me. She was hurling insults and shouting that she had never seen anything like it.
“I went back and took my (mobile) phone because if you went and said she acted the way she did, nobody would believe you (without evidence).
“She was making a lot of noise saying she was being oppressed. I filmed the encounter to show our parents and security officials for them to see in case something happens. From the way she was screaming, I even thought she would pick up something to hit us or something like that.”
In a written excerpt of the interview also pasted on the website, Fatima was quoted as giving a background to the crisis.
According to her, the face-off happened within a building within the Villa called the Glass House which the President gave her father when he was elected as President in his first term.
After describing how close her father and the President are, she said, “Our father stayed there for three years until when the President’s son, Yusuf, had an accident and went to Germany for treatment.
“When he returned, the President told our father to move out of that apartment to go to another apartment called “House 8” also within the villa; that Yusuf was going to stay to continue with his treatment in the Glass House.”
She further explained that her parents were out of Nigeria when all these happened but her father gave instructions that she and her elder sister should go on a Saturday to move their belongings following the President’s instructions.
She further explained that they were putting their things together when all of a sudden, she heard noises from outside.
Fatima was quoted as saying, “I was in an inner room while my sister was in an outer one which is nearer to the main entrance to the apartment.”
She said the outer door was locked with a key which she said was the usual practice when they were indoors.
“When Aisha came and found the door was locked, ‘she used an iron chair to force the door open.”
This, she explained, was why she decided to record the incident so as to have proof of what transpired.
“There are even other clips that have not been released, I will send them to you to see how she was insulting the security and how she drove them away saying who are they protecting and calling them bloody idiots. Its all on the video clip. That was what happened,” Fatima stated.
About the Author
