Tale of two generous First Ladies

As you may have known, Father Christmas is a historic and cultural symbol of gift-giving and selflessness. Legend has it that the nickname emanated from a 4th century Greek bishop of Myra, Saint Nicholas, who was famous for his secret acts of charity. Thus, anyone who is too generous and kind-hearted or prone to handing out gifts is usually nicknamed Father Christmas.

The Nigerian First Lady, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, may have to be nicknamed Mother Christmas. She often doles out gifts or donations that make one wonder the motive behind her uncommon philanthropy. Similarly, Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also tried to be generous, especially to her guests. But, as we will see later here, hers developed some hiccups.

Incidentally, while the source of the gifts from Nigeria’s First Lady has remained uncertain, that of Mrs. Netanyahu was clear. And while Mrs. Tinubu has continued to make public donations, Mrs. Netanyahu has stopped due mainly to some sanctions she received.

Recently, Nigeria’s First Lady gifted some All Progressives Congress (APC) youth leaders with seven brand-new 2026 Toyota Prado sport utility vehicles (SUVs) to support grassroots mobilisation ahead of 2027 general election. Each of the SUVs is estimated to cost over N150 million. Obviously, it is to make the youths happy and more focused on campaigning for the return of her husband, President Bola Tinubu, for the second term.

The APC National Youth Leader, Dayo Israel, happily shared videos showing the vehicles recently. He was full of gratitude to Mrs. Tinubu for her kind gesture. But many other Nigerians were not amused. 

As the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar rightly noted, “At a time families cannot afford food, transport and other basic necessities, these gifts are a brazen insult to the people. The government has found a way to provide luxury SUVs for APC youth leaders, yet millions of Nigerians are still waiting for meaningful relief from the cost of living crisis.”

In June 2026, Mrs. Tinubu similarly donated cars to APC women leaders in five states controlled by the opposition. It was during the inauguration of a pro-Tinubu support group called the Tinubu Torchbearers (TTB) at the State House banquet hall in Abuja. The states are Abia, Anambra, Bauchi, Osun, and Oyo. She told them that the vehicles belonged to them personally and not to the party.

“Register them in your names and use them for the service of the party and your communities,” she said. The women grinned from ear to ear and chanted the praises of the First Lady. A delighted APC national women leader, Mary Alile-Idele, urged women to intensify grassroots mobilization in support of Tinubu’s agenda.

To Mrs. Tinubu, donating campaign vehicles amounts to empowering women, which she said remained central to the APC’s vision of inclusive governance. Hence, she admonished APC governors to buy vehicles for their women leaders because “we are politicians, and people should see the value in us.” Incredible!

Incidentally, our First Lady had advised other Nigerians who are not political party chieftains to go into akara (bean cake), roasted corn and kuli-kuli (crunchy peanut snack) business to survive because it requires little capital to start. She forgot to add doughnut or kpof-kpof business.     

Outside the gifts for campaigns, the First Lady had also made personal donations to some public institutions and for some good causes. She had donated N2 billion to combat tuberculosis, N1 billion to fight breast cancer, and N500,000 to mitigate food malnutrition. Commendable as these donations were, she did not reveal the source of funding.

In January 2026, she donated 50 buses and 30 tricycles to her alma mater, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, in Osun State, to improve mobility within the campus. She had earlier, in October 2025, delivered 21 new shuttle buses to the university. In October 2024, she donated N1 billion to the same OAU to restore and revitalise the horticultural landscape and general infrastructure of the school.

The first set of questions for the First Lady is: where are these funds coming from? Are they from her personal resources, or from the Presidency? What business is she into beyond being the wife of the President? Or was it her stint as a senator that brought her such fortunes?     

The second set of questions is: how does she justify such wastage amid the acute hunger and other deprivations in the country? Is there anything like Office of the First Lady in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? If the money so expended came from her illegal office as a First Lady, why deploy such humongous amount of money for a narrow cause such as donating SUVs for a political party campaign? There are many questions but I know that the answers may never come.

The World Bank had noted that gross federation revenues increased by 69 per cent in real terms between 2023 and 2025. But allocations to education, health and some other important sectors have been abysmally low. Many Nigerian public hospitals cannot handle emergency medical services because they lack intensive care unit beds, oxygen support, functional ambulances, and qualified medical personnel, among others. 

Many Nigerians have lost their lives on account of the poor emergency services. Last month, a gospel singer, Olayemi Bolaji, popularly known as Toluwanisings, suddenly slumped and was rushed to different medical facilities in Ibadan. But they all reportedly declined to admit him because they don’t have the capacity to treat him. The man died.    

Ideally, Nigeria should not be run like a personal property of one family. Every kobo spent by a public office-holder must be accounted for. The President cannot just dole out money that is not appropriated for. If he must, it must be from his personal funds.

This is not to talk about the wife, or son, or daughter of the President. We did not elect any of them into any public office. Hence, they cannot spend public funds without going through the proper channel. They can only spend from their legitimate income.

In properly run democracies, no President or any member of his family spends public funds anyhow. Sara Netanyahu was convicted and penalised in June 2019 for misusing public funds. She was reported to have ordered over $100,000 worth of catered restaurant meals between 2010 and 2013 for the official prime minister’s residence. This was despite the fact that a full-time chef was already on the government payroll.

An Israeli court ordered her to pay a fine of 10,000 shekels (about $2,800) and reimburse the state 45,000 shekels (about $12,500). She was to receive a five-year-sentence, but she avoided that through a plea bargain. Her lawyers had argued that she was not aware of the procedures about outside catering.

According to them, the meals were ordered by the household manager and served to visiting dignitaries. Also, a labour court in Jerusalem had, in 2016, found her guilty of abusing an employee at the official residence and ordered her to pay $47,000 in damages.

This is the difference between a civilised society and a primitive one. In civilised countries, the law is no respecter of anybody. In Nigeria, leaders do things with impunity.

After impoverishing the masses, they use stolen public funds to beat everyone into line. People are so poor now that they can crush anyone who stands in their way for some loaves bread. On February 14, 2024, a group of people, mainly youths, were seen in a video pushing and shoving one another to collect loaves of bread said to be N100 each on Lagos Island. The organisers had to whip them to be orderly.

In another video that went viral the same year, a group of young women were seen struggling to scoop rice from the pot of a rice vendor in Maiduguri, Borno State. The pot of rice was still on fire when the women descended on it. The then Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, could not pretend as he told the First Lady who paid him homage at his palace then to tell her husband that Nigerians were suffering.

Even the Sultan of Sokoto and chairman of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, lamented that millions of Nigerian youths had no jobs and food; and that they were very agitated, hungry and angry.

But when will this anger translate into holding Nigerian leaders to account? When will the relevant government agencies question Mrs. Tinubu over the source of her generosity and probably prosecute her, if she fails to give good explanations? And will this perceived anger of Nigerians lead to a purposeful action in the January 16, 2027, general election? Let’s remain hopeful for a new Nigeria!