Jos-based housewife Khadija Auwalu named her son after President Muhammadu Buhari in 2011, after she went into labour queuing to vote for him. She delivered her son and returned to the polling unit to cast her vote for Buhari, instantly catching the nation’s imagination. Now, many years later, Daily Trust spoke to her.
Though suffering from “serious economic hardship”, Khadija Auwalu, the woman who surprised many in 2011 when she went into labour while queuing to vote for then-candidate Muhammadu Buhari and then returned home to deliver a son and a few minutes later returned to cast her vote, says she has no regrets and still has confidence that the country’s economic downturn will soon turn around under President Buhari.
The 35-year-old mother of nine and her husband Auwalu had in 2011 named their son Buhari, even though their candidate did not win the election at that time. The young Buhari, almost clocking six years now, is now popularly referred to as ‘General’ around the community.
But with nine children and her candidate at the helm of affairs, Khadija while speaking to Daily Trust in her dimly-lit room where she lives atop a rocky hill around Yan Zuma area of Anguwan Rogo, Jos North in Plateau State, says things have been difficult for her family. Though the economic recession seems to be biting on everyone, the mother of nine says it is probably biting her and her family harder than most, as it has become increasingly difficult for them to feed.
“But we knew from the beginning that we would have to exercise patience for things to turn around in this country, that in order to effect the change, we must make sacrifices and it is a sacrifice we are still willing to make. It takes a day or less to destroy something but it can take several years to build from scratch. Nigeria was in a very bad shape when President Buhari took over and I believe it will take time to fix the country,” she said.
While defending the President’s policies on banning certain food items, Khadija explained that for the first time in Nigeria, “We are consuming what we produce and farmers who were regarded as the poorest of our communities are beginning to earn a better living.”
She described the typical Nigerian as ‘very forgetful’, stressing: “It wasn’t too long ago that we were all suffering from the bomb explosions and many were dying, during those moments, we had food but who was eating? You cannot eat if you do not have peace of mind. But now that we have peace of mind, some of us are talking trash. I, for one, still believe in him and I am very optimistic that food prices will crash, and soon.”
Khadija, however, is worried that her eldest son who is 19, will be kicked out of school for failure to pay the N13,000 school fees. “His father says he is looking for money for feeding, not school fees. That has been bothering me greatly,” she said.
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