The Powerhouse Of Aso Rock

So, it was natural that Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua would follow the footsteps of her predecessors when her husband assumed office as President. Though she has been busy with different humanitarian activities across the country and even outside the shores of Nigeria, her pet project, christened Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation, WAYEF, this magazine gathered last week, has not yet been formally presented to the public, as the blueprint for its operation was only recently completed.

In recent times, she has been rallying the wives of state chief executives across the country for the war against HIV/AIDS under the auspices of National Women Coalition Against HIV/AIDS, a programme she is championing for the National Agency for Control of AIDS, NACA. She also gathered wives of governors of the 36 states for a two-day workshop on the promotion of maternal health, organised by her office in conjunction with United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, last April.

She was also the guest of honour at the commissioning of a Braille Centre in Akure, Ondo State, built by the Handicapped Education Foundation, HANDEF, a non-governmental organisation founded by Mrs. Olufunke Agagu, the first lady of Ondo State, in September last year. A month earlier, the First Lady had organised a two-day workshop for the wives of governors and principal officers of the National Assembly on ethics and decorum. Also, wives of governors have always been part of the entourage of the first lady during her visits to foreign countries.

A source explained Mrs Yar’Adua’s eagerness for the inclusion of wives of governors in her activities: “She knows they are the only ones that can carry the programmes to the grassroots, and don’t forget that most of the programmes are targeted at the local people.” But it is not only state first ladies she has been fraternising with. On 9 April this year, Hajia Turai invited nearly all her predecessors in office to the Presidential Villa for what she called a Consultative meeting.

Those in attendance at the meeting included Chief Margaret Shonekan, Hajia Mariam Abacha, Hajia Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Mrs. Ngozi Aguiyi-Ironsi, Prof. Uche Azikiwe, Mrs. Victoria Gowon and Dr. Ajoke Muhammed. Conspicuously absent were Maryam Babangida and Fati Abubakar. Mrs Yar’Adua used the forum to canvass support for her pet project. No doubt, she is eager to carry everybody along and, in the process, has attracted publicity.

Writing in the Leadership newspaper, 23 May, edition, Emmanuel Onwubiko, a social commentator, noted that: “Keen watchers of the various television stations in the country, especially the publicly-funded Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, in the last one year, would have noticed that the coverage extended to the activities of the wife of Nigeria’s current President and ipso facto, the First Lady of Nigeria – an office unknown to any law or statute in Nigeria – Hajia Turai Umar Musa Yar’Adua – has been phenomenally above that extended to her husband, our President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces, Alhaji Umar Musa Yar’Adua whose office not only enjoys the constitutional backing, but holds the popular mandate (wrongly or rightly) of the Nigerian electorate.”

This contrasts sharply with how Turai played the role of first lady in Katsina State, as this magazine discovered during a visit to the city two weeks ago. It was gathered that she did not have any formal pet project as wife of Katsina governor. Nevertheless, she was never found wanting wherever there was need to give succour to the underprivileged and the needy which, according to Lawal Bakori, her Media Assisitant, is her constituency. But even Hajiya Turai’s admirers agree that like her husband, she is a woman of strong conviction and character. “She came from a very learned background. Her father was a judge,” a source disclosed in Katsina. And just like her husband, Turai was a teacher.

She attended Garama Primary School and Government Secondary School in Kankia, both in Katsina State; Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology and Ahmadu Bello University, both in Zaria, Kaduna State. Yar’Adua married Turai in 1975, the year he bagged his degree in Chemistry. They have five daughters and two sons. One of their daughters, Zainab, is married to Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari, Governor of Kebbi State. This magazine gathered that Yar’Adua, as governor Katsina State and now as Nigeria’s President, trusted the opinion of his wife and actually sought for her input on crucial decisions.

The emerging picture of Hajia Turai, as this magazine gathered from sources last week, is that of a domineering wife and an emerging power broker in the Presidency. Allegations abound of different actions and inaction of the wife of the President in the Aso Rock seat of power. But Segun Adeniyi, spokesperson for President Yar’Adua, refused to react to these allegations, dismissing them as mere rumours when he was approached last Tuesday. Even Bakori would rather speak on the kind of person her boss is.

Her husband’s hands-off approach to state matters, and limited exposure to other parts of the country prior to his emergence as Nigeria’s President, have invariably made him dependent on the opinion of some of his close associates for crucial decisions and appointments. This, as has been variously observed, has led to the development of different power caucuses within the administration, resulting in his close associates capitalising on the opportunity to feather their nests. Sources repeatedly mentioned Hajia Turai as a leader of one these caucuses last week.

Heavyweights in her camp, according to sources, include Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, Mike Okiro, the Inspector-General of Police; the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, AGF, Mike Aondoakaa, and the Governor of Niger State, the self-acclaimed Chief Servant, Babangida Aliyu. One source last week described Hajiya Yar’Adua as the ‘backbone’ of the AGF. That is why he is not afraid of taking decisions. “Of all the Ministers of President Yar’Adua, apart from the others like Abba Sayyadi Ruma, Usman and Daggash who have the ears of the President, the AGF is the only one not afraid of taking decisions,” a source said last week. He particularly cited the way the AGF consistently advocated for and eventually got NICON Insurance plc returned to billionaire businessman Jimoh Ibrahim, thus foiling the bid to hijack the company which has as its arrowhead the Minister of Finance. “Without such backing, he dare not do it,” he added. It has also been variously reported that the first lady had in a couple of instances put in word to save the job of IGP Mike Okiro.

Other alleged roles of Hajia Yar’Adua in her husband’s administration are even less savoury. For one, sources claimed she influenced appointment of her associates into influential government positions. She was reportedly behind the appointment of Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and her blood brother, Bashir Abdullahi, as the Managing Director of Port Harcourt Refinining Company, according to a popular website.

A source in the Presidency, however dismissed this claim. “Kupolokun – former NNPC GMD – was asked to hand over to the most senior management staff of the organisation and that’s what he did, so what is the basis for such allegations? And in the case of Abdullahi, he has worked all his life in the refinery. In fact, that is the only job he knew. Are we now saying that because he is related to the first lady he cannot be appointed to the position even when he is qualified?” said the source who dismissed the allegations against the first lady as pure mischief being peddled by political opponents.

Yet, there are also claims that Turai was instrumental to the appointment of many members of the present Federal Executive Council, FEC. Another appointment which the first lady has also been linked with is that of Farida Waziri as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Waziri’s name allegedly came up when there was need to remove Ibrahim Larmode, then acting chairman of the anti-crime agency who was discovered to have been carrying out a discreet investigation of some officials of the presidency close to Yar’Adua and his wife. Interestingly, Waziri herself has in reaction to such insinuation insisted that she did not get the anti-graft agency job through any back-door arrangement.

Leadership newspaper reported sometime ago that Hajiya Turai was putting pressure on the new Emir for Katsina, Alhaji Abdumumini Kabir Usman, to appoint one 39-year-old Badamasi Kabir Usman as Magajin Gari. Sources also alleged that contractors and all those seeking one favour or the other from the Presidency have learnt to zealously court Turai as she has proved to be an effective gateway to her husband.

There have also been speculations about the role played by the first lady in the judgment of the Appeal Court, Kaduna, which enabled her son-in-law and Governor of Kebbi State, Usman Dakingari to retain his seat after the initial annulment of his election by the Kebbi State Election Petitions Tribunal. The Tribunal had annulled Dakingari’s election on the basis of his not being validly nominated by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the 2007 gubernatorial election, since he had not spent a year in the party as required by law.

Mrs Yar’Adua was alleged to have, on the night preceding the judgment, relocated to Kaduna where she worked to ensure that the ruling went in favour of her son-in-law, who clearly had a bad case. Indeed, Dakingari’s case was similar to that of the incumbent Sokoto State governor, Magatakarda Wamako, who was made to stand for a fresh election by the appeals tribunal. But Turai was not prepared to let her son-in-law go through the rigours of a fresh election and the attendant risks. A Democratic People’s Party, DPP, chieftain in Katsina who would not want his name in print told this magazine that Turai single-handedly ensured that the verdict of the Kebbi Tribunal favoured Dakingari. “It is now public knowledge that Turai took control of the situation and went to Kaduna State on 11 April, 2008, the day the judgment was delivered and the Appeals Tribunal did just what she wanted,” he said. Opposition candidates have, however, filed a petition against the Appeal Court judges at the National Judicial Council, affirming that Dakingari had not spent up to a year in the PDP at the time he was made its gubernatorial candidate in Kebbi State.

Even the trips of the First lady outside the shores of the country have been subjects of controversy. For example, when she visited Houston, United States some months ago to receive an award, there was a report that she also used the opportunity to seal oil deals with some oil companies based in that city.

But a member of the delegation on that trip told this magazine last week that there is no substance to the claim as there was no meeting held with any group during the trip. Also, Carol Olubufunmi, a Nigerian based in Houston commended the behaviour of the first lady and her entourage during the trip. “For the first time in many years, we saw a crop of decent and polite Nigerian delegates led by the wife of the President without the air of being so highly distinguished, devoid of rudeness and not overbearing, displaying high sense of responsibility with astounding humility. She was not only punctual but her humble nature, modest dressing and ability to interact intelligently with everyone irrespective of class or religion endeared her to all.”

While the perception of Turai as a domineering wife also prevails in Katsina, nearly all those who spoke to this magazine were quick to temper it with her philanthropic and humanitarian initiatives.”On the face value, she looks simple and harmless. But behind the well nourished frame is a no-nonsense woman whose words are said to be law. And whoever undermined this fact did so at his own peril,” a source in Katsina said in appraisal of Turai’s eight years as the first lady of Katsina.

“She looks very simple but she is a very strict woman. She did not take nonsense from any politician. Though she held no political office except the unconstitutional office of the first lady, yet, she was the de facto Deputy Governor during her husband’s eight-year rule as Governor of Katsina state,” another source volunteered.

This magazine gathered that she was so powerful that commissioners and other political appointees recognised her powers and trembled before her. “Once you fell out with her, you saw yourself out of government. Just as Christians pray through Jesus Christ to God Almighty, that was the way people went through her to gain any favour from her husband. She played that role so effectively that she beame the ultimate power broker,” the source explained.

A story is told of how some PDP elders gathered at the Yar’Aduas’ house early last year, shortly before the elections, to show concern over the state of her husband’s health. The elders, according to the story, had reasoned that being the president of Nigeria is so enormous a task compared to governing Katsina state, urging the presidential aspirant then to give his ambition a second thought considering his health challenge.

According to our source, the lead speaker had hardly completed his speech when Turai allegedly walked in and pointedly ushered the “good Samaritans” out of her house. The source quoted Turai as saying that Yar’Adua should not quit the race but get elected as the President of the country, adding that it was better to die in the Presidential Villa than to chicken out of the race. She was said to have urged her husband to continue even when the rigour of campaigning was impacting adversely on his health.

There is a temptation to view Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua as sedate and meek because of her gentle disposition and the fact that as a first lady she does not needlessly draw attention to herself. But behind this deceptive figure is a strong woman.

Indeed, TheNEWS was told that when the list of President Yar’Adua’s ministers was ready, the President made some alterations to the original list and left it on his table, with the instruction that the corrections should be effected, before he returned from a trip outside Nigeria. However, Turai reportedly went to the President’s office, got hold of the list and effected the changes she wanted. When Yar’Adua’s aides called him to tell him they had resolved not to effect the corrections because the list was altered by his wife, the President shocked them when he said they should let the list his wife had tinkered with stand.

Because of Turai’s tremendous influence on her hubby, governors are falling over one another to please her. Indeed, Ikedi Ohakim, governor of Imo State went the extra mile by personally inviting her to Owerri. And when she visits the states she gets treated like a President. Another evidence of Turai’s strong influence on her husband was presented when the election of the Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylvia was set aside by the appeals tribunal. Some of Vice President Goodluck Jonathan’s aides did not want the Speaker of the Bayelsa State Assembly, Hon. Werinipere Seibarugu, to be sworn in as acting governor, especially when he had just been suspended by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state. But Jonathan’s wife, it was learnt, called Turai over the matter and told her of the crisis the impasse was likely to engender. Turai who was abroad with her hubby at the time convinced him to put a call through to Nigeria immediately.

President Yar’Adua called the Chief Justice of the Federation, Idris Kutigi, and directed him to order the Bayelsa State Chief Judge, Justice Kate Abiri, who at that time had made herself unavailable, to immediately swear in the Bayelsa speaker as acting governor. Once, former President Olusegun Obasanjo visited Abuja ahead of a meeting of the PDP Board of Trustees, BOT. His plan was to speak to Yar’Adua before the meeting billed for the next day, so that they could achieve some unanimity ahead of the meeting. But Obasanjo who was said to have called around 9p.m was told pointedly by Turai that Yar’Adua was already asleep. A disappointed Obasanjo reportedly told Turai that as President of Nigeria, Yar’Adua should not be going to bed that early. But Turai stuck to her guns, telling the former President she could not wake her husband up. She however promised Obasanjo that Yar’Adua would call him first thing in the morning, so that they could strategise as the former President wanted. Sources said Yar’Adua did just as his wife had promised.

Sources in Aso Rock hinted TheNEWS that Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, having appreciated the tremendous influence and powers of the Nigerian first lady, warned his hitherto overbearing wife, Patience not to do anything that could put her on collision course with Turai. Goodluck’s wife has elected to take that advice for the good of herself and her hubby. Such is the measure of Turai’s influence in the presidency and even beyond that it is difficult to imagine anyone in the government who would make President Yar’Adua change his mind on an issue even at the last minute as Turai does. Nura Umar, a sociology graduate who lives in Kano, however, told this magazine that Turai is very kind. “She is a good woman; she doesn’t like it when people are in pains.

“Unlike her husband, she attends to the needs of people, pays hospital bills and visits motherless babies’ homes. A classical example was when the woman gave jobs to three young men in December last year. “Usually, people gather around her and not her husband. She would attend to people one after the other for the period of her stay in Katsina. She does this till very late into the night daily. In December, as people gathered in her house, the young men, one after the other, presented their petitions to Turai. There and then, she handed over the young men to people who told them to bring their C.Vs and come for interview the following Monday.”

Investigation showed that Turai Yar’Adua had no known NGO during her eight years as first lady of Katsina, but she was always responsive to issues. “Whenever there was outbreak of polio, meningitis or measles, she was always very visible. She also played a major role in the immunisation programme of the state,” a civil servant in Katsina said.

The General Manager, Katsina State Radio Service, Alhaji Shehu Ibrahim Bakori confirmed this fact when he said: “I can’t remember any special programme that she initiated while she was here. But I can say without mincing words that she was very responsive to issues, especially those that had to do with children and women.” Ultimately, Reuben Abati, Chairman, Editorial Board, The Guardian, said, “it is up to Mrs. Yar’Adua to decide the kind of First Lady she wants to be.  “She has a choice between the power-mongering, Presidential jet-flying, tummy tucking crowd, and the urbane, dignified and supportive wife who is conscious of the limits of power. She has chosen to focus on maternal and infant mortality. This is a useful area of intervention.”

– Additional Reports By Babajide Kolade-Otitoju.