- Says Govs’ wives trip was official
The Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Wives Forum and wife of the Ekiti State Governor Erelu Bisi Fayemi have said Nigerians needed not be incensed about a video which had gone viral which depicted members of the forum presenting a birthday cake to the wife of the President Mrs Aisha Buhari in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
Mrs Fayemi says the trip was not a surprise visit made for just presenting the First Lady the birthday cake, but an official trip, made as part of the entourage of Mrs Buhari who was on official trip to the UAE.
Her response which came in a statement she personally signed on Wednesday, read: “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.
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 learning from our visit to the various agencies in Dubai and the briefings we received point 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.”