The month of March is designated as International Women’s Month and each year several events are lined up by organisations, groups and different UN and other international agencies to not only celebrate women but also to draw attention to gender issues and their impact on women globally, as the world works steadily towards gender justice and inclusivity.
Curiously, the Nigerian Governors’ Wives Forum (NGWF) led by the wife of Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, led a delegation to the United Arab Emirate (UAE) to present a birthday cake and flowers to the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, who celebrated her birthday on February 17. The governors’ wives were seen exuberantly singing a birthday song as they visited the President’s wife who of recent allegedly spends more time in Dubai than she does in Nigeria.
Expectedly, the video of their visit has gone viral and Nigerians have not shied away from showing their outrage at the seeming insensitivity of the women who ought to be seen to display more restraint of such ostentatious trips, possibly not from their personal accounts. In Nigeria, there are no constitutional roles for either the president or governors’ wives and as such there are no allocations to any office in their names. So, the conclusion is that they might be surreptitiously spending tax payers’ funds.
The leader of the NGWF, Erelu Fayemi who had hitherto been associated with gender advocacy was quick to issue a press statement in defence of the birthday visit, “Our Dubai trip to meet with agencies interested in investing in education coincided with Aisha Buhari’s birthday…” the forum wrote.
This type of childlike exuberance by the governors’ wives forum goes very far in showing why patriarchy would continue to blossom as women like these tend to show too much frivolities. While we acknowledge the freedom of association and movement as rights that the governors’ wives should exercise, we expect some discretion and sensitivity to be displayed by the women closest to the men that stir the affairs of a nation at the edge of the precipice socio-economically. The wife of the President is wrong to encourage such a visit even as Nigeria wonders why she has found Dubai more of a home while her husband frequently jets out to the United Kingdom for medical treatments. The governors’ wives ought to have been discreet if at all it was a coincidental visit.
The claim that they went for some conference or summit falls flat on its face. Why did their participation in the said events not go viral? How relevant was the event? Who are the governors’ wives to negotiate with agencies and investors on education either at state or federal levels? How competent are they to handle such issues? Which other countries’ first ladies attended on behalf of their countries, state or counties?
In Nigeria, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had announced the resumption of its strike, Nigerians are groaning from the effects of toxic fuel imported into the country which has morphed into chronic and crippling fuel scarcity, some Nigerians are trapped in war-torn Ukraine and the world is on edge and jittery about the possibility of a World War III. So what roles are those women playing as wives of decision makers in the most populous black nation with a lot at stake at the moment?
While we query the value the NGWF brings to the people of the 36 states, we are shocked at the rhetoric of a press release signed by Erelu Fayemi who used to pride herself as a social activist. What has changed? Has her new position stripped her of the empathy that drives activism? The other governors’ wives should let Nigerians know what value they have added to their husbands’ roles as governors.
Where are their motherly nurturing roles? Should they not use some valuable time especially in this month of March drawing attention of their spouses to the plight of women socially and economically, given the prevailing dire situations? Should Aisha Buhari not be a beacon for the governors’ wives in terms of discretionary behaviour? Could she not have declined such unnecessary celebration from the NGWF? What if she celebrated her birthday in Katsina amongst the people? What is the lure in Dubai that she seems enamoured of?