Nigeria’s First lady, Aisha Buhari has finally spoken on Monday after months of silence which had led to series of speculations about her sudden disappearance of her role as the mother of the nation.
The President’s wife was reported to have relocated to Dubai in September 2020 after her daughter, Hanan got married without no plan of returning to the country citing security reasons.
In a statement personally signed and revealed on her social handle, the first lady celebrated all women in Nigeria on the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2021 and solicited strong support for women all over the world.
She said this year’s theme: “Women In Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World” is a strong call to appreciate the efforts of women and girls in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
The First Lady said, “COVID-19 has had a huge impact on women, disrupted education and careers, lost jobs, descent into poverty, and proliferation of domestic violence.
“Many have also died or suffered due to lack of access to basic information on the pandemic.
“It is therefore important, not just to continue spreading the message of the COVID-19 protocol, but to remember and support those who have been affected negatively by the pandemic in one way or another.”
Aisha also lamented the continuous mass abductions of women and girls by bandits and insurgents, especially in the north, demanding an end to the spate of kidnappings in the country.
She said, “As a mother, I share the sorrow and agony of the victims and families.
“I am also not unaware of the impact that these abductions could have in reverting many successes we have hitherto achieved, especially in terms of girl-child education and early marriages.
“I call on all stakeholders to continue to exert their different levels of influence and bring these abductions to an end and to assure us that girls are safe anywhere they may find themselves.”
