"It's not our portion to go back to the kitchen"-Dame Patience Jonathan replies Gen. Buhari on scrapping office of the 1st Lady

   

The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, stated yesterday in an interview with Weekly Trust that if elected as president in next year’s presidential election, he will abolish the office of the first lady. The office, though not constitutionally recognized, has been maintained by past and present administrations and is even seen as a key influence in policy decisions. Rather, he said ministries, which are constitutional, should be allowed to play their roles.

“There is the Ministry of Women Affairs, and so on. I was raised by my mother, as I lost my father when I was under six years, so I know what a woman can do if given the chance”.

Speaking about the Chibok girls, Gen Buhari said: 

“Imagine a mother with a teenage daughter there and for seven months and has no clue where she is”, he said, noting that women’s effort in looking after children, apart from the pain of childbirth, aggravates the pain of losing a child. Roughly one year in their tummy and from the time they are born until they clock six, children tend to assume they know everything, but it is women, their mothers, who are responsible for them. I have the greatest respect for women”, he added.

The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, in a subtle way of replying Gen. Buhari has emphasized the importance of the office of the First Lady in the Nigerian politics, saying that the office has been an avenue for mobilizing women for mass participation in politics. 

She said this in Abia state during a reception organised for her by the Ohuhu community, her maternal home in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia state, yesterday.

She said the bid by politicians from the opposition camp to scrap the office of the First Lady would amount to sending the Nigerian women back to the kitchen if such came to fruition, adding, “It is not our portion to go back to the kitchen. We have women that are capable. We can contribute our quota to the development of Nigeria".

The First Lady had veered off from the address she was reading at the occasion when she directed the attention of guests to Buhari’s idea which she said was not practicable in the ongoing political dispensation because of the critical role women have been playing in politics.