Hajiya Buhari who spoke during a thank you dinner she hosted for women at the Conference Centre of the Presidential Villa said those who wanted to see former president Goodluck Jonathan paid more to people parading themselves as aides.
According to her, “I will like to inform you that in the past regime, whether it is true or false, only God knows, some people were going round and parading themselves as Personal Assistants. If you wanted to see the First Lady, you will pay $30,000 – $50,000 and if you are seeing the President, you will pay all that you have gathered in your lifetime.”
She assured that ” “This will not happen in our regime,” adding that “Whoever ask you to give a single penny in the name of coming to see the President or his wife is not our staff. He is not an APC member, it is a lie. Don’t be deceived.”
Warning those around President Muhammadu Buhari to be above board, Hajiya Buhari said: “There was nothing that people did not say about the past administration. It is not Jonathan that is not good but the people around him. So, the people that are going to be around General Buhari have to be very careful because this election ended peacefully. We are praying and hoping that people around him should know that it took him 12 years to get to that position and they must know that they are coming to serve the masses, not General Buhari in person. It is the people that are around him that will determine the political health of our state.”
The wife of the president said the dinner was meant to appreciate the women and youths for their roles in making the election of her husband a reality .
According to her, “I am so delighted to stand before you today as a wife of a former President and today being called the wife of the President after 12 years. It was such a long journey and we thank God it ended this way, we really thank God.”
Condemning the declining number of women in the National Assembly, she said “The women of Nigeria are not asking for equal representation but rather a fair representation. As you are all aware, they were the major voters, we constitute more than 50 percent and in the end, we found out that the number of female legislators that we used to have declined.I do not think this is fair for women. We feel we are not represented. We should now make it as a mission in the next four years, to fight for fair representation of women in both leadership and decision-making bodies.”