Mrs Buhari justifies dragging state governor to court over defamation

Nigeria

Wife of Nigeria’s President, Aisha Buhari, has defended her decision to sue a Nigerian state governor, Peter Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, over defamation of character.

Mrs Buhari was responding to answers on a wide range of issues on the Voice of America’s Hausa service during her visit to the United States. Particularly on the issue of Fayose she said:

“At the time, he was not the only one insulting us, but people felt that it was just a campaign. After the election, which we won and they lost, everyone else moved on except him and he extended his insults to me. I did not run for president.

I am a married woman and I have never called his name. I never knew him. But as governor and chief executive, he kept insulting and raising false allegations against me, I have to respond and I decided to go to court.

He made allegations over what he said I did here in the US, even though I have never met the people he mentioned,” she added

Aisha Buhari on July 20th filed a lawsuit against governor Fayose over his claim that she was involved in a corruption scandal and as a result she could not travel to the United States.

Fayose had in a statement released in June alleged that the wife of president Buhari was the “Aisha Buhari” named in a U.S. court document, alleged to have been involved in a Halliburton scandal, a bribery case involving a former U.S. lawmaker, Williams Jefferson.

Incidentally, Mrs Buhari is currently on a working visit to the United States. According to her, she sued Fayose because he was always insulting her and making false allegations against her.

As part of her visit, she visited the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington DC. Buhari had visited the USIP during his visit to the US and discussed strategies to defeat Boko Haram in Africa’s most populous country.