By Ranti Odunlami

When I heard about the unfortunate happenstance in Burundi, I got scared for my family. The fact that the first family of a nation can be wiped out in the twinkle of an eye because of an alien virus, is alarming. I immediately thought of our dear President, Muhammadu Buhari, who was perhaps saved from the novel COVID-19 virus by the swift actions of his dear wife and first lady, Aisha Buhari.
An ever proactive mother, she sprung into action when news broke of the index COVID-19 case in Nigeria by first shutting down her office. She thereafter isolated her own daughter who returned from school in a COVID-19 high-risk country and ensured that the president distances himself from the then Chief Of Staff who had recently returned from a trip. Her actions may have been all that saved the president.
It’s no surprise then that with the rising number of cases being recorded in Nigeria on a daily basis, the first lady has not relaxed the preventive measures set up to protect her family, especially fighting any perceived danger around her husband who is elderly, knowing that the elderly are more susceptible to coronavirus.
This is perhaps why it is surprising that a person as close to the president as his personal assistant would work directly against the measures set up to protect the president and his family from the fate of the Burundian first family.
How can a Personal Assistant to the president be irresponsible enough to pose a threat to his president?
By all standards, and without being told, he should have done all it takes to protect his principal including self-isolating as needed in his case.
We have all learned that you can’t be too careful with the coronavirus. I personally think it’s unfair for anyone, no matter how highly placed, to have to put the first lady in a position to have to bring her maternal instincts to bear in doing all it takes to protect her husband, the President of Nigeria from imminent and known threats.

From time to time, this Amazon has proven to be the only one truly for the President, standing by him unwavering, spotting dancers even when he himself has not realised that. Such is the amazing love by a wife over three decades and a loving mother that is not in a hurry to see her children orphaned.