Pat Stevens/
A video has surfaced online in which the Communications Minister, Dr Isa Pantami, appears to have shepherded President Muhammadu Buhari away from shaking hands with Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, wife of National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, at a function in Abuja yesterday.
The incident happened while Buhari was being welcomed to the E-Nigeria International Conference, Award and Exhibition by dignitaries, including Sen. Tinubu, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Communications.
The video shows Buhari alighting from his vehicle at the International Conference Centre, Abuja after Pantami welcomes him and proceedes to introduce him to the waiting dignitaries.
The President subsequently shakes hands with the Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, but moves past Sen. Tinubu, who curtsies twice, and goes on to exchange a handshake with Inuwa Abdullahi, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency.
See video:
The video had since gone viral on Twitter with users offering differing opinions on the purported action of the Minister and Buhari’s seeming acquiescence.
Co-founder of Bring-Back-Our-Girls campaign, Aisha Yesufu, in one of her reactions, wrote: “I wouldn’t blame the President on this. The Minister @DrIsaPantami practically used his body to move the President’s attention to the next male on the line. He probably didn’t want the President shaking hands with a woman on his watch. The Minister should have done better!”
In another post, she wrote: “When the Minister slighted the woman & introduced the person after her a more attentive leader would have taken time to talk to the lady & make her feel at ease but then Buhari @MBuhari is the one who went to his first inauguration sat down and had to be told to go greet people!”
Also, in reaction to the claim by some that Buhari as a rule does not shake hands with women because of his religious beliefs, a Twitter user, Adelaja Adeoye, shared the post below: