‘It coincided with official trip’ — governors’ wives clarify Aisha Buhari’s Dubai birthday

The Nigeria Governors’ Wives Forum (NGWF) has denied reports making the rounds that its members flew to Dubai for the sole purpose of celebrating the birthday of Aisha Buhari, the first lady.

In a video that appeared on social media platforms on Wednesday, the governors’ wives are seen singing a birthday song and presenting a cake and flowers to the first lady.

Explaining the context of the video in a statement, Bisi Fayemi, chairperson of the NGWF, said Aisha’s birthday coincided with an official trip to Dubai.

“Our attention has been drawn to a social media post shared on the 1st of March, 2022 suggesting that some Nigerian Governors’ Wives were in Dubai to surprise the First Lady of Nigeria Dr. Aisha Buhari on the occasion of her birthday on the 17th of February 2022,” the statement reads.

“For the avoidance of doubt and in the interest of the public, the Nigerian Governors Wives were on the entourage of the First Lady of Nigeria who was on an official trip to the UAE. The trip included visits to Dubai Expo 2020, and tours of the Dubai e-learning center, Dubai Youth Hub and meetings with foundations and agencies in UAE who are interested in investing in education, health and technology in Africa, with priority given to women and young people.

“The trip coincided with the birthday of HE Aisha Buhari. On the morning of her birthday, which was February 17th, the delegation of Governors’ Wives paid a private visit to present a cake and flowers. After the brief presentation, we proceeded to attend the scheduled meetings for the day.

“We were therefore dismayed to see footage of the visit interpreted to mean Governors’ Wives left Nigeria for the sole purpose of celebrating HE’s birthday. This is not true and we find this assumption scandalous. We are all dedicated to supporting our spouses as well as our First Lady, and we would never be a party to anything that will bring embarrassment to them and ourselves.

“Our key learnings from our visit to the various agencies in Dubai and the briefings we received points to the need for Nigeria to scale up investments in education, science and technology and provide more opportunities for young people, who are the key to the future.

“We will continue to address these issues in our own work as well as advocate for increased commitments in these areas from our leaders.”