By Cecile De Comarmond, Ben Simon
April 8, 2014





Abuja (AFP) - "Few would have believed that the taciturn, austere General Buhari had a soft, smiling and sweet woman at home," the Vanguard daily said after the former military ruler was elected Nigeria's next president.

Aisha Buhari remained in the shadows for most of the election campaign but could now impose a very different style from the current First Lady at the presidential villa Aso Rock in Abuja.

Little is known for now about the First Lady elect other than a few details in the Nigerian media: she is 44, married her 72-year-old husband in 1989 after he divorced his first wife the previous year, and they have five children together.

"I met Aisha Buhari three times, and she seems to be a very humble person, very friendly and a good listener," said lawyer Ebere Ifendu, head of the Women in Politics Forum group in Abuja.

The current First Lady, Patience Jonathan, wife of the outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan, has a very different public profile.

She is well-known to journalists and mimicked by comedians for her boisterous public appearances as well as political and financial scandals.

"Patience has been like a bull in a china shop. No control whatsoever," said Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, head of the Nigeria Network of NGOs.

"We are very hopeful that we will have a very different First Lady, who will bring calm and harmony at the presidency."


- Calm and relief -

In the large house in a residential area of Abuja where her husband Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was watching election results come in, Aisha Buhari's calm demeanour contrasted with the tumultuous scenes outside.

The official vote count was under way and the electoral commission was drip-feeding results for the presidential election state by state until Buhari took an unassailable lead.

The APC high command announced victory for their candidate and the news spread around the country, sparking scenes of jubilation, notably in the north's biggest city, Kano.

Dressed in a cream-coloured tunic and an orange and pink embroidered headscarf, Aisha Buhari seemed calm and also relieved, despite the magnitude of what had just happened and what was to come.

"The long journey has come to an end," she told AFP, referring to the election campaign.

But she admitted to "mixed feelings" about the campaign, a low-key reference to the low blows and personal attacks aimed at her husband from the ruling party.

Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused Buhari, a northern Muslim, of supporting radical Islam, of failing to secure his secondary school certificate and even having terminal cancer.

Aisha Buhari preferred instead to talk about the positive aspects of the rollercoaster ride that had led Nigeria to its first democratic transfer of power between parties at the ballot box.

Nigeria had nothing to fear from her husband, she said.

"I know him personally. Not as a leader of Nigeria. I know him as my husband and I think Nigeria should feel comfortable with him. He will get there," she added.


- 'Mama Peace' -

Patience Jonathan for her part tended to add fuel to the flames during the campaign, going as far as urging PDP supporters to "stone" anyone shouting "change" -- the APC campaign slogan.

The comments sparked outrage in the APC and led to a furious debate in the Nigerian media.

Patience Jonathan -- who styled herself "Mama peace" -- is used to media scandals.

Even before the election of her husband as head of state in 2011, she was suspected by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in 2006 of having laundered a vast sum of money.

In 2012, she became "permanent secretary" of the oil-producing southern state of Bayelsa, where Goodluck Jonathan is from and was a former governor.

The opposition heavily criticised the appointment, decrying "nepotism" and "favouritism".

She also attracted the ire of civil society when in the aftermath of the mass kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls in April last year, one of the leaders of the "Bring Back Our Girls" movement was arrested after meeting the First Lady at the presidential villa.

"Maybe she misunderstood her role as the First Lady," suggested Ifendu.

"There's no official role for the First Lady in Nigeria. It's not in the constitution," added Ransome-Kuti.

Instead, it often depends on what weight the president gives it.

"What we are hoping for is more decorum from the office of the First Lady," she said.



http://news.yahoo.com/aisha-buhari-style-first-lady-nigeria-211404783.html

Aisha will be far better, can't you see she is more learned? Can't you see she wiser and more matured even though younger?
She will be better!! And will be the woman behind a successful Buhari

This one wey una post so, na trouble una dey find ooo. I don carry mat waka come read bashing wey go likely follow.

Behind Jonathan's failure was a woman. I just hope she will support her husband and advise him rightly

In mama peace's voice...

Let me introduce..... To dis gadarin.....my own broda.....my own son......my own husband brother....awa incoming incubent govanor....mr nyesom wike. {Wipes her face with a handkerchief ...and smiles back at the crowd}....

My dear me.... My dear me...hmmmm....all dose pipu dat are shouting change....don't listen to dem o.... Are we a conductor? Don't ansa dem o...goodluck is awa son...goodluck is our brother....goodluck is our president....goodluck is our friend ooooo...my dear me...we must vote oooooo...hey hey hey hey...we must come out and vote oooooo....dey say dey want change...ah ah....change for wia? Are we in busstop?....


Eeyah..we will miss her

I HOPE THIS ONE WILL NOT START TO SCREAM DIARIS ALLAH OOO

olu77:
Behind Jonathan's failure was a woman. I just hope she will support her husband and advise him rightly

Hmmm. Some piglets said they wish to have such a wife cos she stood by husband and fought for her husband

How can people just call curse on themselves?

i just wish for a first lady with plenty of decorum and Aisha fits the bill perfectly

enough of ''the drunken bull in the china shop breaking all the ceramics on display''

Summary please

koboko69:


Hmmm. Some piglets said they wish to have such a wife cos she stood by husband and fought for her husband

How can people just call curse on themselves?

Of course eye is different from sight. Ignorants will call fire water. Even you would have voted for Jonathan if this woman had not taken over.
She caused all the damage and I bet Fayose, Fani, Wike, Ewubebe, that DSS puppet and all other public nuisance directly report and take instructions from this woman.

She no fit

That's Mama Piss style. Stop comparing her with Aisha Buhari. They are 2 different person. Aisha Buhari might be calm, but Mama Piss is not worst.

My calculation is the age diff. She is 44years now and she married in 1989. It means she was 18 when she married baba.

StarboyMichael:
My calculation is the age diff. She is 44years now and she married in 1989. It means she was 18 when she married baba.

OK , your point ?

Pashe Faka left a terrible stench along her trail everywhere she went when her hobby was running things. I don't think there'd ever be a more uncouth, crude, arrogant, reckless, and tactless first lady like her. She was a huge burden upon her husband, never complemented him in any single way.

That her "born throway" remark will follow her forever.