Aisha Buhari, the First Lady, has said she was blocked from accessing an apartment in the seat of power, despite being the only known wife of the president.
Mrs Buhari stated this while confirming the authenticity of a video clip that went viral last week.
In the clip circulated on social media, the first lady was heard angrily lashing out at those who prevent her movement at the seat of power.
Those who circulated it said Mrs Buhari was being locked in a room at the Aso Villa and prevented from seeing her husband who is rumored at the time to have concluded plans to walk down the aisle with another woman as a second wife.
She had during her husband’s first term in office, accused some forces of hijacking the president’s administration but her husband dismissed the allegation.
While speaking with BBC, the wife of the president confirmed the authenticity of the video but said it was not a recent incident as claimed by those who circulated it.
After being away for some months, she returned to the country on Sunday morning, two days after the date of the rumored wedding between her husband and a minister in his cabinet.
“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.
In a separate interview with the BBC, Fatima gave more details into what led to the incident.
The Daura’s Defense
Fatima, daughter of Mamman Daura, President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew, has responded to the wife of the president accusing her attacking her family inside the presidential villa in Abuja.
Commenting on a video where the First Lady was seen complaining about being denied access to her apartment, Fatima said she least expected Buhari’s wife to act in a violent manner.
In the video which trended last Friday while the rumour mill was agog that the President was getting married to Sadiya Umaru Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social development, the President’s Wife was seen speaking in anger.
In a BBC Hausa interview monitored by TheCable, Fatima said she recorded the video as a proof that Buhari’s wife confronted her violently.
The incident happened in 2017.
“My name is Fatima. I am a daughter to Malam Mamman Daura… if one reasons well, he or she will understand that it is not possible to say that the wife of the president is denied access to her apartment but let me give a context,” she said.
“The apartment in question is called the Glass House. You know that there are several houses and apartments in the villa. When the President got into office, he gave the Glass House to our father, Mamman daura.
“You all know that they are friends and are related, more so, they grew up together like twins. When he became President, he gave the Glass House to our dad and said he should stay there. Our dad stayed there for three years now until when the president’s son, Yusuf, had an accident and went to Germany for treatment.
“When he returned, the President told our dad to move out of that apartment to an even bigger one in the villa, that Yusuf is going to stay and be treated in the Glass House. The Glass House is closer to the main Presidential apartment and that will make easier access to him by his mother. It is not in her apartment which is in the main apartment.”
Fatima narrated what led to the incident that was captured in the video, saying she recorded it to use as evidence against the first lady.
“(On that day) My mom and dad were not around. So, my dad instructed me and my elder sister, both of us are working and we go to work every morning, that we should come on a Saturday and move our belongings to the new apartment the President instructed,” she said.
“We planned to pack out then and have even concluded moving all the things. All of a sudden, in the afternoon as we were busy on that errand of packing our belongings when we heard noise from outside. I was in an inner room in the house while my sister was in an outer one close to the main gate of the apartment. So my sister went out before I could come out.
“On getting there, it was the wife of the President. When she came, the door was locked and she picked a metal chair and broke the door. I have sent the picture to you. My sister that went out was almost hit by the chair. She threw the chair which broke through the door and almost hit my sister.
“I was so shocked and afraid of getting there because she was shouting and raining abusive words and saying we should move out of that apartment. That she has never seen this kind of thing before. I then went back and picked my phone because if one is to say that she acted that way, no one would believe it without a proof. She has already been saying a lot of things depicting that she is being suppressed.
“So I recorded it to show our parents and the security, so that they will know the truth should anything happen. Because the way she was raging and shouting, I was thinking that she would pick something and hit us with it or something like that. That was why we recorded it. Had it been we wanted to release the video, we would have done it earlier. But you know if a video clip enters one or two hands, you can’t control where it will get to.
“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.”
The First Lady has been very critical of Dauras.
Presidency Source Speaks
Meanwhile, a presidency source on Monday faulted the recent release of a video by Mamman Daura’s daughter, Fatima.
The video, released in the wake of the rumour claiming President Muhammadu Buhari was going to take a second wife last Friday, had shown part of the First Lady, Aisha Buhari’s body while shouting on the need for the Dauras to leave an accommodation in the Villa.
A source, who does not want her name in prints, said that the video was shot over a year ago when the President’s son, Yusuf, had power bike accident in Abuja.
According to her, the accommodation was needed for the then recuperating Yusuf.
The order for the Dauras to vacate the Villa accommodation, she said, was approved by the President
She said: “By now the airwaves are awash with Fatima Mamman Daura’s daughter consenting to the fact that she indeed shot and leaked the now infamous video clip which showed the wife of the President in a very angry mood.
“The incident happened over a year ago when the wife of the President on the instructions of the President asked the Dauras to vacate their living quarters inside the villa for a sick Yussuf Buhari, who was recuperating after an accident.
“For this reason, the quarters were needed and the Dauras were asked to move to another part of the Villa. Long before the accident, Yusuf’s mother had requested in writing for the Dauras to vacate the place because the building is officially designated for the biological children of any serving President.
“The IG of police, DG DSS, NSA and the Vice President who was the acting President, were all notified of this request. Despite this, the Dauras deliberately refused to comply with the instructions of the security agencies.
Mamman Dauras daughter Fatima did not say this in her interview.
“What really was the intent for the video being released now if not for mischief Fatima didn’t showcase her part in the drama where the door was locked against the first lady to deny her access to some areas of the villa, neither did she acknowledge the abuse she first vented before the First Lady reacted under the instruction of DG Lawal Daura, who was brought into government by Mamman Daura,” she stated.
-Rahman Is’mail
