Aisha Buhari: a new style of First Lady in Nigeria?

"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 the 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 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.
Also Read: In-coming First Lady promises better deal for women
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.
Also Read: Aisha: The brain behind Buhari
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.