7th June, 2021
and his wife Aisha: the office of First Lady does not exist in the 1999 constitution
By Abankula
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of two aides to work in the “Office of the First Lady”, that has no basis in the 1999 constitution.
The first appointee, according to a statement by media adviser Femi Adesina is Dr. Rukayyatu Abdulkareem Gurin.
She will serve as Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration and Women Affairs.
Rukayyatu is a doctorate degree holder in Curriculum Instruction from the University of Maiduguri.
She was at various times a Lecturer at the University of Maiduguri; a Deputy Director at the National Universities Commission (NUC); and a Director at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.
Gurin who was a Senior Lecturer at Baze University in Abuja before her appointment, replaces Dr. Hajo Sani who was recently appointed as Nigeria’s Delegate to the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) in France.
The President also approved the appointment of Dr. Mohammed Kamal Abdurrahman as Senior Special Assistant to the President on Health and Development Partners in the Office of the First Lady.
He holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from University of Maiduguri.
He worked at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Yola Specialist Hospital, Sithobela Health Centre in Swaziland, and at the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) before his appointment as the Personal Physician to the First Lady in 2015.
He was reappointed in 2019.
Dr Abdurrahman will combine his new role with his position as the personal physician of his wife.