Na Your Mama: Mrs Tinubu’s New Narrative (Editorial)

The recent “Na Your Mama Be This” brouhaha that clouded the event in Asaba when the Renewed Hope Initiative inspired by First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu donated 10,000 professional kits to midwives in the South-South zone stirred a commotion in Nigerian news media.

The spectacle of the First Lady being heckled was needling and unbecoming of the hospitality that the Delta State Government aspired to bequeath on the visiting First Lady.

It was as such not surprising that the authorities in the were miffed and determined to sanction those they believed were involved in that act of unruliness.

The prospect of sanctions on a student of the Delta State School of Nursing, Agbor, who reportedly made a TikTok video of the incident, was one that was about further raising tension from the incident.

The response of the First Lady was, however, against the vengeance the authorities in Delta sought.

In a sign of goodwill Mrs Tinubu worked towards deescalating the tension by calling for a reprieve of those marked for sanctions. By her action, she disarmed traditional critics and activists who were spoiling for a fight with the administration on account of the ruckus.

By her commendable inventiveness, Mrs Tinubu has demonstrably shown herself as a peacemaker. She did well in troubleshooting an incident that would not have done her or her husband’s administration any good.

GWG.ng commends Mrs Tinubu’s quick response to what was a burgeoning crisis and commends her deed to other leaders in the polity.

Particularly commendable in the comeback of Mrs Tinubu was her identification of the fact that students in their “moments of excitement, often express themselves in a light-hearted and jovial manner.”

Mrs Tinubu has by this demonstrated her humanness and her proclivity to public opinion.

While we commend the First Lady for kerbing the crisis, GWG.ng, however, uses the opportunity to draw attention to the increasing personification of governance by political actors and their spouses.

Mrs Tinubu and wives of Nigerian governors have been repeatedly reported in the news media donating humongous amounts of money, and where not, items and services in kind. In this case, Mrs Tinubu was donating kits to midwives. These are duties that should be carried out by the government.

The irony for many is that while the government is derelict in its responsibilities, spouses, children, and other associates of elected officials pitch in. But they never are able to do or cover up what the government should do.

While their good deeds are commendable, they can never cover for what government irresponsibility has failed to address.  

The inattention of governments at all levels to their duties cannot be covered by their relatives or friends.

We call on the spouses, children and friends of our elected officials to channel their energies into advising their spouses and parents or friends to do well in their offices.

The position of First Lady should not be a parallel channel for the deployment of government responsibilities. It is rather to give flair and flavour to what the spouse does in office.

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