Viral Video: Governors’ Wives Explain Dubai Trip, Cake Presentation To Aisha Buhari 

The Nigerian Governors’ Wives Forum has reacted to reports claiming that it’s members travelled to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, to present a cake to the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, on her birthday. 

The governor’s wives clarified that contrary to reports that they travelled to Dubai solely to present the cake to President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, they had joined the First Lady on an official trip to the UAE.

A viral video showing the moment the governors’ wives presented the cake to Mrs Buhari had drawn wide criticism from Nigerians on social media.

Nigerian Governors Wives fly to Dubai to present Aisha Buhari with birthday cake while ASUU is on strike.

You’ll expect that the optics should affect them especially as this is a campaign year but they knowNigerians well. I’ve seen stupidity in governance but this takes the ice pic.twitter.com/1SHSWEjbEG

— Henry Shield (@henryshield) March 1, 2022

The wives of some state governors, led by Gov. Fayemi's wife, spent Nigerian people's money to travel to Dubai to wish Aisha Buhari, the wife of Buhari (currently in London for a medical check-up), a happy birthday.
The people that we need to try for treason in Nigeria are many. pic.twitter.com/aGpJTAi9rJ

— Dr. Njakiri Damages (@DrDamages) March 2, 2022

But reacting in a statement on Wednesday, the chairman of the forum and First Lady of Ekiti, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, described the claim as scandalous. 

“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,” said Fayemi.