Nigerian president's wife may not back him

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.

The wife of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari says she may not back her husband at the next election unless he shakes up his government.

Aisha Buhari told the BBC in a interview on Friday that her husband did not know most of the officials he had appointed, and that many owed their positions to the influence of "a few people".

Her husband, a 73-year-old former military ruler, was elected last year after a campaign largely fought on his pledge to crush the Islamist militant group Boko Haram and crack down on corruption.

Nigeria, which has Africa's largest economy, is in recession for the first time in 25 years, largely due to a fall global oil prices, which has slashed the state's main source of income.

The president's critics say he exacerbated the economic crisis by opposing the devaluation of the naira currency for 16 months before yielding, and that it took too long to overcome months of wrangling with parliament to get the 2016 budget passed.

The president has not said whether he will seek re-election in 2019.

"He is yet to tell me but I have decided, as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again," Aisha Buhari said in the interview.

She said people who did not share the vision of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), had been appointed to senior positions because of the influence wielded by a "few people".

"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," Aisha Buhari said.

On the issue of whether the president was in charge, she said: "That is left for the people to decide."

A government official, who did not want to be named, said the remarks were "a husband and wife matter".


Share
2 min read

Published

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world
Nigerian president's wife may not back him | SBS News