In what appears to be another display of
brazen opulence, wife of the President of Nigeria, Aisha Buhari has
been spotted wearing a £15,000 Chopard Happy Sport 36 MM stainless steel diamonds encrusted watch, (valued at N8.25 million at today’s free market forex rate of N550 per £1) raising
more questions about the frugality, anti-corruption and man of the
people image that got her husband elected as President of Nigeria in
March 2015.
A statement released by her Future Assured
pet project via a tweet on Monday contained an image of the First Lady
and a short message disclosing that she was in New York to meet with
United Nations hosted organisation, Stop TB Partnership at the 71st
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 71).
The last time Aisha Buhari visited the United States, she said she
was on a visit to hold discussions with aid organizations on how to
help the women and children facing starvation in the north eastern part
of Nigeria.
Her visit was however marred with the scandal of a Hermes Birkin 35cm Porosus Crocodile Gold Hardware Bag worth $105, 000 (over N40 million) which she was carrying as she arrived the United States.
Many questioned the rationale of her
fund-raising visit to the United States when the price of her handbag
alone is enough to feed thousands of IDPs for months.
In this new visit to the United States,
Aisha Buhari is seen wearing a £15,000 Chopard Happy Sport 36 MM
stainless steel diamonds encrusted watch. When converted to Nigerian
Naira at the current exchange rate of N545 to £1, the wristwatch is
worth N8, 175,000.
To fairly appreciate the value of an N8 million wristwatch (yes, wristwatch), N8 million is worth 4 times more than the annual salary of a serving Nigerian minister and twice the amount a minister is entitled to for his/her annual housing allowance.
The Chopard diamond brand has become
legendary and famous amongst the world’s wealthiest individuals. Upon
purchase, a buyer gets a certificate to authenticate that the diamonds
on the watch are not blood diamonds.
Breaking it further down for those who
would dismiss as a non-issue, an N8 million diamonds encrusted
wristwatch for the wife of Nigeria’s frugal President who claimed having
only 150 cows before his election as President, reports indicate that
more than 50 percent of Nigerians live below the international poverty
line of $1.25 per day, according to the United Nations.
Coming at a time Nigeria is officially in recession, recall that prior to Buhari’s trip to New York for UNGA, a statement from the Nigerian presidency disclosed that the president would also use the opportunity to scout for investors to invest in Nigeria’s critical sectors.
Political analysts however insist that
the continued flamboyant spending of the Nigerian government under
Buhari sends across the image of a nation that is not in any serious
financial or economic crisis.
It gets worse when Nigerian athletes who
risked their time, efforts and talents to represent Nigeria at the just
concluded Rio 2016 Olympics received what has been described as the
worst funding support from the Nigerian government ever. Nigeria’s
Minister of Sports Solomon Dalung reportedly announced
to distraught Nigerian athletes in Rio the government’s reward of
$2,000 (two thousand dollars only) for winning a prestigious Gold medal
at the games.
Buhari’s frugal, austere, man of the
people image was first diluted when his wife, Aisha, was pictured
wearing an expensive-looking watch at her husband’s inauguration in May
2015. The wristwatch, a Cartier Baignoire Folle 18-carat white gold
diamond timepiece was estimated to have cost around $50,000 – more than
£30,000 or about 17 million Nigerian naira. Report of the development
sparked public outrage, making international news headlines.
"...Among your wives and children there are those with exact opposite of your true believe or even worse off, be aware of them, but overlooking with compassion and forgiveness,for indeed Allah is all forgiving and most merciful."-Quran 73:14
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