Aisha Buhari was born in Adamawa state in the family of the first Minister of defense, Mohammadu Ribadu. She was schooled in the best of Fulani traditions and cultures .
She speaks English and Arabic fluently. She asserted her role as the Wife of the President when she openly asked Governor Muhammed Bindow Jibrilla of Adamawa State to swap his male Commissioner for Women Affairs, Alhaji Aliyu Tola, with a woman.
Mrs. Aisha Buhari, 45, is the wife of the President. She doesn’t use the title ‘First Lady’ favoured by the wives of previous Presidents and Heads of State. She prefers to be addressed as ‘Wife of the President.’ However, Mrs Buhari is as powerful as her predecessors.
She wields considerable influence in the administration of her husband. She is respected by most of the nation’s power brokers. She is also seen as a fountain of influence by the women and men who travel regularly within Nigeria’s corridors of power seeking one government favour or the other.
She has wives of some state governors, especially those whose husbands were elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress and wives of leaders of the National Assembly, in her innermost circle and they do her every bidding. Indeed, her first attempt at asserting herself was focused on this group.
In January, she restructured the Nigerian Governors’ Wives Forum along geopolitical lines.
She did this during a meeting held at the First Lady’s Conference Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja with all the 36 governors’ wives present.
There, she divided the forum into the Northern Governors Wives Forum headed by Zamfara State governor’s wife, Asma’u Abdul’aziz Yari and the Southern Governors’ Wives Forum chaired by Imo State governor’s wife, Nneoma Nkechi Okorocha.
Like her predecessors in office, Mrs. Buhari floated a pet project, Future Assured, with the aim of empowering women and children. She also made it known that her role as wife of the President of Nigeria will be limited to whatever is constitutionally recognised, as she promised not to overstep but she seems to be doing just that and even more.
Aisha Buhari had turned a blind eye to the “Gender Parity and Prohibition of Violence against Women” bill thrown out by the Senate was at the National Assembly for the first public hearing of the North East Development Commission (NEDC) Bill.
The Bill sponsored by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara seeks to charge the proposed commission with the responsibility to “receive and manage funds from the allocation from the federation account and international donors for the settlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction of roads, houses, and business premises of victims of insurgency; and for other matters connected there with”.
Another government agency that require appointments, government allocations at a time Nigeria needs to cut down on some of the existing MDA’s and possibly merge as recession bites..
Within one year in power, the President’s wife has presented two books. During the two book presentations, very powerful Nigerians who attended jostled to be in Mrs Buhari’s good books. First it was her book, ‘The Essentials of Beauty Therapy. A Complete Guide for Beauty Specialists.’ She’s so powerful that she dragged General Danjuma’s wife to chair the occasion, Daisy, was the Chief Presenter at the public presentation of Mrs. Buhari’s book, ‘The Essentials of Beauty Therapy. A Complete Guide for Beauty Specialists.’
The event held when the hostess’ husband, President Muhammadu Buhari, was on a one-week official visit to China.
The event was held on the day the over 200 girls abducted from their school in Chibok, Borno State were spending their second year in captivity, Mrs. Buhari’s gorgeously dressed kept her guests waiting for about 40 minutes as the event scheduled for 12noon did not start until 12.40pm when she was accompanied by Osinbajo and his wife, Dolapo, and some of their close aides walked in.
A former skipper of the Super Eagles, Joseph Yobo who endorsed Jonathan’s re-election, saying he was the best for Nigerian youths was at the event, popular actor, Emeka Ike, and the promoter of the infamous Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah.
It was at the event Yahaya Bello, Kogi state governor was quoted to have said the President’s wife is beautiful. He went a step further by saying that the President’s daughters are also beautiful. He then added that the President’s wife should be expecting applications in respect of her daughters.
The second was the presentation of her selected speeches titled, ‘Matching words with action.’. The even took place at State House Conference Center, Abuja May 31st. Wife of the Vice President, Dolapo Osinbajo, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Zahra Buhari and others attended the event.
It was another major “turn up” especially as Nigeria suffers economic crisis with an increased number of poor people recorded accoding to NBS since Buhari assumed office alone but Wasiu Ayinde a.k.a KWAM1 performed for the guests.
A Launch of a book of selected speeches by Mrs Buhari is a clear departure from the past, she beats the records of her predecessors in hosting events and of course organising parties at the Villa.. Nigerians where flown all over the country to attend and transporation taken care of by the organisers.
‘The mother of the nation’ as she is fondly called is no doubt powerful. She rules in her own way from the comfort of her office located beside the President’s official residence inside the Presidential Villa.
Additional Content Credit: Punch Newspapers
