So Men Paid Dollars before they could See Patience Jonathan?

This rumour was flying around when Goodluck Jonathan was president but I didn't believe it until now.

First Lady Aisha Buhari has warned influence peddlers never to collect money from people who want to see her or President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking on Saturday night at a dinner at the Banquet Hall of Aso Rock in Abuja, she said:

“There is nothing people did not say about the past administration. It is not Jonathan that is not good but the people around him. So, the people that are going to be around President Buhari have to be very careful because this election ended peacefully.

“We are praying and hoping that people around him should know that it took him 12 years to get to that position and they must know that they are coming to serve the masses, not President Buhari.

“It is the people that are around him that will determine the political health of our state.”

Stressing that the Buhari administration would run an open government, Mrs. Buhari said it would be run in clear departure from what obtained in the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration when people were allegedly asked to pay money in foreign currency before they could see the President or his wife.

She said: “I will like to inform you that in the past regime, whether it is true or false, only God knows, some people were going round and parading themselves as Personal Assistants.

“If you wanted to see the First Lady, you would pay $30,000 or $50,000 and if you were seeing the President, you would pay all that you have gathered in your lifetime.

“This will not happen in our regime. Whoever asks you to give a single penny in the name of coming to see the President or his wife is not our staff. He is not an APC member, it is a lie. Don’t be deceived.”

Noting that she did not take part in the campaigns of her husband in the first three times he contested and failed, Mrs Buhari said her active participation in the last electioneering made the difference.

She said APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu encouraged her to join her husband's campaign.