Governors of the 36 States of the Federation have said the wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, was addressing the entire nation and not just them when she said things were getting out of hands in the country.
The Governors stated this on Saturday in response to the position of Hajia Buhari at a lecture on Friday that the country was failing.
The position, contained in a statement by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, was signed by the Head of Media, Abdulrazaque Bello Barkindo.
The statement said: “That Aisha Buhari’s rebuke at the National Mosque during the National Executive Council meeting of the National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs could not have come at a better time.
“That the nation’s religious leaders have to be told by none other than the First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari, that things are getting out of hand, is an indictment not just of governors, as the reporters would like the general public to believe, but of the nation’s entire political elite.
“Unfortunately, the haste to paint state governors with one brush or the race to hit the front pages in this case, destroyed the message that the First Lady seeks to convey. Mrs Buhari was sermonising on anyone in a position of power or authority to fear Allah in whatever they do because, according to her, as it is said in the scriptures, everybody would eventually account for his deeds before the Almighty God.
“To insinuate, therefore, that the First Lady was referring to governors when she said, ‘People cannot afford potable water in this country while we have governors,’ erroneously suggests that only state governors would meet God on the day of judgment.
“It was in the same breath that she said, ‘We should either fasten our seat belt (meaning tighten our belts) or do the needful or we will all regret it very soon because, at the rate things are going, things are getting completely out of hand. The VP (Yemi Osinbajo) is here, some ministers are here, they are supposed to do justice to the situation.’
“How the reporters at the occasion conveniently forgot the above part of the speech and singled out governors in passing the message, therefore, remains a mystery.
“Governors are doing their best to lift Nigerians out of misery and Nigerians are beginning to witness an improvement in their standards of living because of the conscious efforts of state governors throughout the country.
“The nation is replete with remarkable improvements in different facets of public life. For example, public schools in Kaduna have received a serious boost, aged women in Ekiti State are receiving stipends from government to keep their bodies and souls together, food security has taken the front burner in Ebonyi, Lagos and Kebbi states, unqualified Permanent Secretaries have been uprooted in Adamawa State and youth empowerment has taken centre stage in Ogun. There are similar examples in every single state of Nigeria, all thanks to the hard work governors are putting into their jobs.”
