The BBC Hausa Service is under intense pressure from President Buhari and
members of his cabinet not to air the recent interview granted by his wife, Aisha Buhari, which is due for broadcast on Saturday, according to Sahara Reporters.
Buhari is said to have reached out to his wife, who is currently in London, to stop granting further interviews to the media.
In excerpts that have been widely reported in the media, Mrs. Buhari is quoted as saying that the President had ditched those who really worked for his victory in the 2015 election and is instead focusing on those that didn’t participate.
The First Lady also said the President did not know a majority of his ministers before appointing them to office and expressed her concern that certain individuals are creating division within the party.
“What I am afraid for them is the rebellion of 15 million people,” says Mrs. Buhari at the end of the excerpt available to the public.
The Speaker of the House of Representative, Yakubu Dogara, according to sources, tried to informally dissuade the BBC from airing the interview.
A son of Buhari’s powerful nephew, Mamman Daura, is also said to have called to get the BBC not to use the interview.
In the interview Aisha Buhari had said those who worked for the president have been abandoned for those who don’t even have voters card.
She also expressed fear of rebellion from the fifteen million people who voted her husband.
However, the source told Daily Trust, the BBC wouldn’t backdown on its promise to air the interview as an independent media organisation.
The source said the only condition that can make the service not to air the interview is for the interviewee, Aisha Buhari, to decide against it. Even in that case her voice recanting what she had said in the interview would be aired.
Therefore, a part of the interview will be aired in the service’s morning broadcast tomorrow. It will be aired in full on its programme, ‘Gane Mini Hanya’, on Saturday.
Buhari has now banned his wife from given any further interviews. Could this be another mama peace in the making?