HOW I WILL RUN THE OFFICE OF"THE FIRST LADY"

Aisha Buhari, the wife of the presidential
candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC),
Muhammadu Buhari, has said her husband will
not tamper with the office of the ‘First Lady,’ if it
is constitutionally recognised.
Mrs. Buhari told newsmen on the sidelines of the
inaugural meeting of the APC women presidential
campaign initiative held in Abuja on Saturday.
The wife of the APC presidential flag-bearer was
reacting to her husband’s promise to scrap the
office of the first lady because it is
unconstitutional and allegedly being used to steal
public fund.
According to her, where such does not exist
constitutionally, she will limit her roles to the
traditional functions of visiting orphanages and
caring for society’s downtrodden as the first lady.
“ `When my husband is elected as the president of
this country, he will rule the country within the
rule of law based on the constitution of the
country.
“If the office of the first lady is constitutionally
recognised, he will not tamper with it, but if it is
not that’s okay.
“For me, I will perform my duties and role as the
wife of the President of Nigeria traditionally.
“Wives of presidents have some traditional roles,
like receiving guests, visiting orphanages, helping
the less privileged people.
“They also lead in the fight for the right of women
and malnourished children, infant mortality rate,
kidnapping and girl-child trafficking,’’ she said.
While inaugurating the initiative, Mrs Buhari urged
the women to unite and cooperate with the men
by mobilising women at all levels to ensure
success at the February polls.
She urged them to double their efforts in
educating other women on how to cast their votes
and at the same time be civil in their conducts.
“As I am talking to you now, more than 55
percent of registered voters are women hence, it
is imperative to have initiatives like this to
mobilise fellow women at the grassroots.
“The meeting will plan campaign activities that
will show case the potentials of the women wing
in selling the programmes of our great party to
the women.
“This will include mobilising women by creating
voters awareness, particularly in the area of
registration, collection of PVC, identifying the
party logo and how to cast their votes,’’ Buhari
said.
Also speaking, the wife of the party’s vice-
presidential candidate, Oludolapo Osinbajo,
stressed the need to assist women and the less
privileged in society.
“I am happy that I am a mother, a wife and a
sister. It is time to do more than we have been
doing; encourage other women so that we all can
be mothers of Nigeria.
“Mothers heal, comfort, nurture, provide, and
sacrifice. We have this virtue in us and by the
grace of God; we will be given the opportunity to
express who we are as women.
“We are the ones who set the standard in the
family; We decide whether our children will be
honest or dishonest.
“We have this opportunity to effect change, not
only to change the things that are happening in
this nation, we have the opportunity to change
ourselves,’’ Osibanjo said.
Present at the inauguration were the wives of the
governors of Rivers, Imo and Nasarawa states,
the national coordinator of #BringBackOurGirls
campaign, and a host of other APC women and
supporters.
(NAN).