The Nigeria’s Governor’s Wives Forum, on Wednesday, denied allegations that members of the forum solely traveled out of the country to celebrate the birthday of the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari in the United Arabs Emirate.
In a recent video circulating on the social media, Chairperson of the forum who is also the wife of the Governor of Ekiti, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi, was seen leading other women with a birthday cake in her hands.
After seeing the video, many Nigerians had condemned the wives of the governors alleging that it was waste of resources to travel to Dubai just to present a birthday cake.
They however declared that the trip only coincided with the birthday of the First Lady who was attending an official event in the UAE.
A statement signed by Mrs. Fayemi explained thus: “The trip coincided with the birthday of HE Aisha Buhari. On the morning of her birthday, which was February 17th, the delegation of Governor’s 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.”
They added that the trip included visits to 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 statement added that the visitations were meant to scale up investments in education, science and technology and provide more opportunities for young people, who are the keys to the future.
See The Full Statement Below:
“Our attention has been drawn to the social media post shared on the 1st of March, 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 Governor’s Wives paid a private visit to present a cake and flowers. After the brief presentation, we proceeded to attention the scheduled meetings for the day.
We were therefore dismayed to see footage of the visit interpreted to mean Governor’s Wives left Nigeira 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 briefing 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.
HE Erelu Bisi Fayemi
Chair, Nigeria’s Governor’s Wives Forum.