Tag: Aisha Buhari

NIGERIA was abuzz last week with the exchange between two enthusiastic allegorists, First Lady Aisha Buhari and Kaduna State senator Shehu Sani, both of whom revelled in animal metaphors to ventilate their political frustrations. Senator Sani drew first blood, deploying allegories to skewer his political enemies, chief among whom, the country will remember, is the Kaduna State governor, the feisty Nasir el-Rufai. Unverified reports suggest that Mallam el-Rufai might be interested in the presidency. Other than clever footwork, there has, however, been neither indication nor statement from him confirming that he is scheming for the coveted position.

No one of course suggests that Sen. Sani’s allegories were directed at the first lady. Indeed, if anything, the senator’s allegorical excursions were quite solicitous of the first lady’s anguished banishment from the centre of things in the presidency. It was clearly a cathartic exercise, more notable for its mocking tones than its literary devices or even its power to ventilate frustrations. The senator had begun wryly: “Prayer for the absent Lion King has waned. Until he’s back, then they will fall over each other to be on the front row of the palace temple. Now, the hyenas and the jackals are scheming and talking to each other in whispers; still doubting whether the Lion King will be back or not. Now, the Lion King is asleep and no other dares to confirm if he will wake up or not. It is the wish of the hyenas that the Lion King never wake up or come back so that they can be kings. It is the prayers of the weaker animals that the Lion King comes back to save the kingdom from the hyenas, the wolves and other predators.”

As disagreeable as Sen. Sani’s literary amenities appeared to be, especially the extended liberty he took with them, they undoubtedly resonated far beyond what a direct statement would have done. No simple and direct statement could have conveyed the same message with as much power, effectiveness and even subtlety. It did not seem that the senator feared to confront his enemies frontally; it was simply a case of fishing for words and terms, whether allegorical or anecdotal, that gave force and substance to the senator’s fiery loathing for his chief enemies. No description of President Muhammadu Buhari could have been as stimulating as calling him a ‘lion king’. And no words or terms could have delivered so much pejorative tour de force as effectively as describing his enemies as hyenas and jackals. What is more, by ascribing hideous and bilious motives to his opponents, including suggesting that they wished the president dead, the senator quite succinctly performed an allegorical masterstroke.

That masterstroke did not need any improvement. It wounded enough; and it was overreaching in ways that left nothing to the imagination. Yet, the senator was probably so effective in the use of allegories that the first lady not only embraced it, indeed found the literary device quite invigorating and entrancing, but also appropriated it and deployed it. She immediately responded to the senator’s message with a cryptic and even more definitive version of her own borrowed allegories, as if to lend greater and unquestioning credence to the senator’s message. Said Mrs Buhari: “God has answered the prayers of the weaker animals. The hyenas and the jackals will soon be sent out of the kingdom. We strongly believe in the prayers and support of the weaker animals. Long live the weaker animals, long live Nigeria.”

Mrs Buhari seemed to suggest, beyond the allegories, that her ailing husband was in fact recuperating faster than anyone might imagine. She sniffed at those who had moved on with their plans to inherit her husband’s figurative kingdom, and concluded rather eagerly that a clear-out of the president’s inner caucus was imminent. She gave no proof of her husband’s recovery, and perhaps needed not give anything. And she offered no corroboration for her sweeping categorisations, especially who the jackals and hyenas were, nor whether they were in tandem with Sen. Sani’s categorisation.

However, much more than anything else, she reinforced her initially controversial conclusions about the mystery cabal that is widely believed to have hijacked the president’s government. Had she been silent, she would have lost nothing, for Sen. Sani’s message was vigorous enough to achieve the purpose he designed for it. But by coming out to reinforce the senator’s message, and in the process remorselessly reiterating her view of the divisions that plague her husband’s presidency, Mrs Buhari illustrated her boldness, conviction, determination, and a sense of great filial responsibility to redirect her husband’s government without the surreptitiousness many thought was appropriate for the occasion.

It is now evident that Sen. Sani will fight Gov el-Rufai to the last. And Mrs Buhari, whom many thought had been chastened by the negative reactions to her outburst last year, will also fight on to the very last. Neither of the two will relent, nor surrender. If their opponents within and outside the presidency will not yield ground, both Mrs Buhari and Sen. Sani appear determined to equally and defiantly stand pat, regardless of the hesitations and bewilderment of the literarily fastidious and the politically cautious.