My wife belongs to my kitchen and room – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has responded to the BBC interview with his wife, Aisha, where she questioned his leadership.

excerpt from the interview:

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife has warned him that she may not back him at the next election unless he shakes up his government.

In a BBC interview, Aisha Buhari said the president “does not know” most of the top officials he has appointed.

She suggested the government had been hijacked, saying a “few people” were behind presidential appointments.

Mr Buhari was elected last year with a promise to tackle corruption and nepotism in government.

His wife’s decision to go public with her concerns will shock many people, but it shows the level of discontent with the president’s leadership, says the BBC’s Naziru Mikailu in the capital, Abuja.

The President is on a state visit to Germany, from where he had reacted to the interview during a joint press briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The Associated Press reports that he laughed it off and said: “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room.”

He also said that he had much more political experience, AP reports.

Aisha, in an interview with the BBC, had said that the president did not know most of the top officials he had appointed.

She said: “The President does not know 45 out of 50, for example, 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.”

In the BBC interview, the First Lady refused to name those who had “hijacked the government,” saying: “You will know them if you watch television.”

On whether the President is in charge, she said: “That is left for the people to decide.”

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