“Sex-worker styled Muslim lady”: Fringe Muslims attack Buhari’s CBN deputy governor nominee

A few days ago, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Aisha Ahmad, a woman widely perceived as smart and accomplished as the new deputy governor of the country’s central bank (CBN).

She is currently the head, Consumer Banking Division at Diamond Bank, and had previously worked for Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC, Bank of New York Mellon (UK), Zenith Bank PLC and NAL Bank PLC.

She is Chairperson of the Executive Council of Women in Management, Business & Public Service, WIMBIZ (www.wimbiz.org); a leading women-focused not-for-profit organization in sub-Saharan Africa.

The second point above is important. Ahmad believes in women empowerment. Some may call her a feminist, even though we cannot confirm if she personally identifies with that label. However, some of her public comments places her in that mold. For instance, here is her response to a question on work-life balance:

“An interesting question which is often primarily asked of women and not men and probably an indication of the strong effect of societal/cultural expectations on views on gender parity and gender roles in the home and in the workplace. For as long as juggling a career and making those hard but necessary choices remain the pure remit of the woman, we will always make work-life balance purely a feminine issue. This is one reason why the practice of enforcing paternity leave for instance, is becoming institutionalised in the global workplace – both men & women should be given the opportunity to make these sacrifices for their careers to even out the playing field.”

In the interview referenced above for The Guardian life, Ahmad took some photos which have not been well received by some practicing Muslims.

A Facebook user, Abubakar Usman Almajiri, said in a post that “Buhari’s choice of a sex-worker styled ‘Muslim’ lady for deputy CBN post is a great disservice to us Muslims. I know, Buhari is a liberal and does not give a damn about living Islam fully himself- as we see his incessant handshakes with women. But even if he is non-Muslim ruler, we expect him to chose, if not the good seeds from among us Muslims, but a little bit better Muslims. That’s the best way we can be proud of our seeds not with the wayward bad ambassador of sort.“

“What happened to our tradition recourse to moral propriety, cultural sensitivity and dress decency in selecting those to hire for jobs? he asked. “And, yes! Moral decency is infinitely better than educational qualifications on paper or without morals.”

Another Facebook user, BM Dzukogi, said “If you are a Christian and you think that Muslims criticising Aisha’s dress are wrong, you are the one who is wrong, not because you have no business in the discourse but because you probably do not know how Islam ask Muslims to dress.

“Indeed, Aisha’s home ( Alh. Umaru Ndanusa) is a Muslim home. Now, what I am not sure of is if Aisha is still a Muslim. If she is a Muslim, those dresses are not the way of Muslims and Muslims have the right to complain about them. At that point, your duty as a Christian is to seek explanation as to how wrong they are on a Muslim’s neck. If she is a Christian, Muslims have no right to complain. And their duty would be to continue with the business of living together in a mixed society like Nigeria.“

He said even though Ahmad wasn’t appointed to represent any religion, ethnic, social or corporate group, “her new high profile demands thorough accountability to any group she belongs. Public trust is not a private thing… Those who demand that she obey the rules of what she professes are right on the ground that she says she is one of them ( I have long concluded that she is not a muslim). Methinks, she prefers Christianity which her mother used to be. If this is it, Muslims should better retire from their queries. I think this shouldn’t be a problem to do.”

Dzukogi concluded by saying “he is trying to help her husband; the man we simply call GENERAL gather his thoughts on the whole saga, her dad as well. GENERAL is a complete disciplinarian, how did this escape him?”



Source:  The Scoop