Aisha Buhari Denies Bleeding Nigerian High Commission in London

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

The President’s wife, Mrs. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari has denied report that the Nigerian High Commission spent excess money on her and her entourage when she travelled to London.

In a statement by her Special Assistant on Media, Adebisi Olumide Ajayi, Mrs. Buhari dismissed a report that said she connived with some top government officials to fleece the Nigerian High Commission in London whenever she traveled to London.

She described the report, which accused her of abuse of privileges at the Nigerian High Commission in London, as a travesty of investigative journalism.

An online news portal, Sahara Reporters, had last Thursday reported that Mrs. Buhari visited the UK at least seven times last year and that each time she travelled there, the High Commission spent a minimum of £7,000 on her hospitality.

But Mrs. Buhari denied ever travelling to London with a large entourage as was reported, saying the highest number of people on a trip were her three kids, ADC and her personal physician.

The president’s wife also said the Nigerian commission in London had never offered any favour either “monetarily or materially” to her or her so-called entourage on any of her trips to the UK.

The statement reads: “It is on record that the Nigerian Commission in London does not receive Aisha Buhari at the airport with any official distinction or privileges as was accorded other first ladies before her. “Her drivers are privately arranged without any recourse to the embassy for staff. She has never complained or raised dust about any of these acts by the High Commission because of the understanding, as clearly spelt out and practised by her husband that public office must be separated from the private lives of the occupants.

“She has always been an advocate of good governance where officials of government are responsive and appealing to their constituents. It therefore baffles the imagination that one could believe she would corroborate with any government official however highly placed either at home or abroad to short-change the Nigerian people.

“These records are not hidden for a non-mischievous reporter who really intends to inform the people and not to disparage the family of the President just to add weight to a report.

Mrs. Buhari also said that the State House in Abuja took care of her meal only when necessary.

According to her, the State House in Abuja caters for her meal when necessary, and other healthy food or variety needed by her children are her personal responsibility.