The reporter for Reuters news agency in Lagos has shared this cartoon from the local Business Day website, depicting the different challenges President Muhammadu Buhari is taking on as fires.
There is a fire called “corruption”, one called “Boko Haram”, one referring to a secessionist movement for Biafra (MASSOB) and even one representing his own APC party.
But the fire Mr Buhari is kneeling next to is labelled “the other room”, a reference to controversial comments he made about his wife last week after she gave an interview to the BBC critical of his presidency:
“I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room,” he said while on a visit to Germany, standing next to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is arguably the most powerful woman in the world.
His comments sent social media into meltdown, causing #theotherroom to trend on Twitter, with many critical of what they saw as an outdated portrayal of women’s role in society.
So is Mr Buhari trying to blow the fire out, or get it going?
By declining to apologise for his comments, and appearing to stand by them, perhaps the cartoonist is implying that the president is fanning the flames of the controversy:
In an interview with German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle on Sunday, he replied to a question from his male interviewer about the criticism surrounding his comments:
I am sure you have a house, you know where your kitchen is, you know where your living room is… and I believe your wife looks after all that, even if she is working.
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