10-year-old Girl Craves Audience with Buhari, Gets Invitation

Chiemelie Ezeobi

It started as a tall dream for 10-year-old Ayesha Aliyu Gebi from Bauchi State when she wrote a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, craving audience with him.
Credit must be given to the power of social media, as little Aisha’s dream came to pass Monday when she met with the president.

In the nine seconds video shown on Twitter, Ayesha, who was dressed in Ankara material, clutched her now-framed letter, which she presented to the president.

Although she has always been a fan of the president, she gave voice to her desire by her penning him a letter stating her wish to meet him personally.
Her letter read: “Dear President Muhammadu Buhari, my name is Ayesha Aliyu Gebi. I am from Bauchi State. I am your biggest fan.

“How are you feeling? I heard you are sick. Hope you (are) feeling better? Let me go straight to the point. I wanted to ask you if I can come and see you.
“I have always wanted to see a president face to face. Sorry, I forgot to tell you my age. So I am 10 years old.”

Her letter was made public by her uncle, one Hussein Gebi, who tweeting from @dgebis wrote: “My niece wants to see the president @MBuhari face to face please make her dream come true. Retweet please.”

After his tweet on August 29, it soon went viral as many people adhered to his plea and it garnered 535 retweets and 231 likes.
Although sceptical about the viability of her request, some Nigerians like Angale Kahleed who pleaded that if her request was granted, she should remind the president how badly his beloved sons and daughters were suffering in Bauchi.

Despite the retweets, it was seen as a nearly impossible feat by most until a reply by Bashir Ahmad, the Personal Assistant to the President, New Media, made her wish come true.

Tweeting from @BashirAhmad he wrote: “President Muhammadu Buhari has read your niece’s letter. And he says: Invite Ayesha to come and see me. Are we down for tomorrow?”
To which her uncle replied: “Kudos to our listening president. Its (sic) surely gonna be a dream come true for Ayesha tomorrow. A girl’s dream will come true tomorrow. Kudos to Mr President @MBuhari long live Baba.”

Her father, Ibrahim Aliyu, who said they were counting down until the meeting wrote: “Today my daughter Ayesha’s dream of meeting @MBuhari comes true. May the dreams of every child in this country come true, Amen.”

Also joining the celebration, another of her uncles tweeting from @Segalinks wrote: “Congratulations to my beautiful and cerebral niece, who scribbled her way intelligently into the heart of the Greats. Enjoy each passing day.”

Immediately the invitation was extended by the presidency to Ayesha, trust Nigerians to inundate her with requests to present to the president on their behalf.
However, one Badru Rafiu expressed his displeasure at his perceived discrimination against the elderly.

Inferring that the little girl was granted audience because she is a child, he said: “@BashirAhmad I made similar requests to @akandeoj but up to now no response. I think older people are stigmatised and discriminated against at the villa.”

With the invitation to Ayesha, are we going to see more kids writing letters to the presidency or their governors requesting for audience?
Certainly yes, as Nigerians are known to jump quickly on the bandwagon. But will they get the same result? Only time will tell.
Many like Abdulkadir Wanka shared the same thinking when he wrote: “Only God knows how many letters will come after this. I trust my Nigerians.”

Related Articles