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.

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

[size=16pt]Aisha buhari , the only woman in Nigeria to bag a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Ambrose Alli University ekpoma, satellite campus in Kaduna state

APC has a certificate forgery and milling press [/size]

himkers:
J

Jesus is Lord

God bless General Buhari and Family.

My calm and educated Incoming First Lady........

I thought the article was about the terrorist's wife? Still Maama Peace managed to stay in the spotlight.

Una never taya? Contunu!

Gboliwe:
I thought the article was about the terrorist's wife? Still Maama Peace managed to stay on the spotlight.

Una never taya? Contunu!

Bad Belle is allowed..

This is what the wife of the president should act and look like compared to the comedian mama Shepopotemus minister of jokers for GMB

I did little Mathematics and discovered that Buhari was 46 when he married Aisha in 1989, and she was 18 then. (just one year by chance, because am sure he is lucky to escape marrying her at 17).

Beauty, Poise, Elegance and Class!

For this alone, we are grateful for the CHANGE!!!

garrix8:


Bad Belle is allowed..

Stay focused dude!

Gboliwe:
I thought the article was about the terrorist's wife? Still Maama Peace managed to stay in the spotlight.

Una never taya? Contunu!

Calm down and embrace the wind of change

aieromon:


Calm down and embrace the wind of change

Stay focused. Maama Peace is boring yet you guys won't leave her out of the centre stage. She still takes the shine always!

Gboliwe:


Stay focused. Maama Peace is boring yet you guys won't leave her out of the centre stage. She still takes the shine always!

aieromon:

Gboliwe:


Stay focused dude!

Mgbeke nwantiti...

I know the cure to your bad belleism..

Just Say Sai Baba twice in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Finally we will get peace of mind from a good etiquetted first lady!

Patience Faka Jonathan will be forever remembered as a strong woman. Even though she was uncouth in speech severally, she held her fort and her husband's.

She did what most Nigerian women cannot do, she defended her territory ruthlessly, even compromising a state governor in the process.

If Goodluck Jonathan was half the man Faka is, he would have still been president today

cool

Comedy time is over,will miss pej,she never stopped making headlines with her attitude.something tells me that this new set of people coming in are serious people .ma go look for night of thousand laugh,no more national comedy

She is jes too jegaish

Wait

himkers:
[size=16pt]Aisha buhari , the only woman in Nigeria to bag a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Ambrose Alli University ekpoma, satellite campus in Kaduna state

APC has a certificate forgery and milling press [/size]

in Adam oshiomole's voice GO AND DIE!!!

she gives us a sneek peek into the person of GMB. If he was a fanatic like PDP wanted us to believe she would be in puddah!

Aha

we thank GOD, surely there will be sanity and decorum.

Beautiful woman....

Finally!!!! Change has come to stay

Just wanna make front page dis year...*nd am glad I did..