Buhari/wife interview: Joke Taken Way Too far – Okorocha Laments

Apparently perturbed by the different shades of interpretations negatively trailing the recent press interviews by President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife, Aisha, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state has said the public reaction was a joke taken too far.

Says Aisha Buhari didn’t mean to bring her husband’s govt down

It will be recalled that the wife of the President last week granted a press interview to Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Cooperation, BBC, where she demanded a rejig of the cabinet, threatening that if nothing was done to better the lot of many impoverished Nigerians, she might not join her husband in the 2019 campaign trails should he decide to run for a second term in office.

But speaking with State House Correspondents, yesterday, in Abuja, Gov. Okorocha, who was present during the conference in Germany having accompanied the President on the visit, said the public had completely misconstrued the statement.

The governor who is also the chairman of ruling All progressives Congress, APC Governors Forum, stated that it would be wrong to believe that the intention of Mrs. Buhari was to pull down her husband’s government.
Okorocha stressed that both the President and his wife were having a nice time together.

He said: “What is now trending in the social media, the comment of Mr. President on the interview of his wife, I was there when Mr. President made the comment. I think both the interview and the comment were taken out of context. I can understand why the international community speaks on this matter because of human rights and all that is going on around the whole world.

“I tend to believe that Nigerians should understand this matter because I do not think those were the intentions as being described on social media and those condemning the act. I can put it this way, that it is a joke taken too far outside the shores of Nigeria.

“If you have been with the person of the President and where he cracks jokes, you will understand with me that it could be his style of jokes because even when he was responding, he was smiling. I don’t think the meaning that is given to it is what it is.
“If not, why would he have his five daughters having Masters and Ph.Ds and his wife educated and putting women in key positions in the country? I don’t think it is.

“Aisha Buhari who granted the interview didn’t give that interview to bring down her husband’s government. She was only trying to make peace among perceived aggrieved members in the polity. I have situations where my wife joins Commissioners and my workers to condemn what I do.

 That does not mean she is fighting me. She is rather a bridge of peace between me and them.”