Now, Hajiya Aisha Buhari steps out

But since Hajiya Aisha Buhari stepped out into the visual embrace of the general Nigerian public, she has been quite a statement. Tall, elegant and bespectacled, Aisha has been keeping tongues wagging, with the wide acknowledgement that she is not only a quintessence of beauty, she is also, after her academic credentials had been unfurled […]

But since Hajiya Aisha Buhari stepped out into the visual embrace of the general Nigerian public, she has been quite a statement. Tall, elegant and bespectacled, Aisha has been keeping tongues wagging, with the wide acknowledgement that she is not only a quintessence of beauty, she is also, after her academic credentials had been unfurled and appreciated, cerebrally beautiful. Buhari’s wife is not only admired as self-effacing, she is applauded as confidently articulate whenever she chooses to expresses herself.
Then there is her lively quality. A writer, Stella Lebi, summarised Aisha’s personality as the compensating balance that offsets the somewhat dour and disciplined military disposition of her husband. But Lebi added that the qualities of husband and wife find convergence in what she called their selflessness and patriotic fervour.
A’isha Buhari was born in Adamawa state into the Fulani family of the first Minister of Defence, Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu and is the granddaughter of the first traditional title holder of the Chiroman Adamawa.  As such, she boasts a royal pedigree.
Now she’s the only wife to the former Head of State. They married in December 1989. She holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs and Strategic Studies from the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna.  Before collecting her Master’s, she had bagged a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma (Kaduna satellite campus) and a National Certificate in Education (NCE) from the National Teachers Institute (NTI).
On the professional and career side, Aisha obtained a diploma in Beauty Therapy at the Carlton Institute of Beauty Therapy Windsor in the United Kingdom and a certificate course from the French Beauty School, Esthetique Academie Dubai. She is a member of the United Kingdom’s Vocational Training and Charitable Trust and the International Health and Beauty Council.
She is one of the National Board for Technical Education’s (NBTE’s) resource persons on Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology and has been participating fully on the small and medium scale enterprises curriculum of the NBTE. She is founder/Managing Director of Hanzy Spa and Principal of Hanzy Beauty Institute, which is one of the consultants on Youth Empowerment and Skill Acquisition programme of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.
She and General Buhari are blessed with five children –   Halima, Yusuf, Zara, Aisha and Amina. Aisha, in her 40s, is a grandmother. The name of the granddaughter is Aisha.
It was gathered that Buhari encouraged Aisha to further polish herself academically. She was also being tutored at home by an English teacher from the Command Secondary School, Kaduna. Later, she enrolled in the Distance Learning programme of the NCE at the National Teachers Institute (NTI), Kaduna.
Thereafter, she enrolled in the undergraduate programme of the Ambrose Alli University and received lectures at its Leventis Building satellite campus, Kaduna. She recently graduated from the NDA Master’s class.
Savouring her own educational excellence, which was nurtured by her husband and achieved through her own self-developmental doggedness, Aisha was said to have contributed to the educational progress of many people, family members and non-relatives alike, up to the post-graduation level.
Hajiya Naja’atu Muhammad, one of the prominent women politicians in the country and a close confidant and supporter of Gen Buhari since his debut into politics described Aisha as a brilliant personality who has the capacity of assisting her husband to successfully steer the affairs of the country. To Lebi, the general’s wife is a woman with a great entrepreneurial spirit.
“Hajiya Aisha,” Naja’atu said, “had hitherto not been involved in the politics of the General (Muhammadu Buhari). In our previous campaigns, she never participated. But my little association with her revealed that she is a very intelligent and committed person. She is committed to the cause of her husband and the society in general.
“She is such a good wife that a lot of times, we get so many things done through her. With my experience in politics, I can say that she is a very good politician. Politics is all about having a good relationship with people. And for this short period that she has ventured into our campaign, she has proven to be a good politician, because she knows how to relate with people effectively.”
According to Naja’atu, Aisha is a “diplomatic” person who knows how to handle issues “diplomatically.” Eulogising the APC presidential candidate’s wife as accommodating, Naja’atu said a lot of people who would otherwise have been unable to reach out to the general got to him through his wife.
In the same vein, Buhari’s wife was said to have been reaching out to the people that the General cannot reach. In fact, Aisha, Naja’atu maintained, has been very helpful to the general. “Hajiya Aisha is a bridge builder. She builds bridges between the general and so many people. She harmonises rough situations. She sees things objectively and she has listening ears,” the woman said.
Naja’atu alleged that the unofficial office of the First Lady has been rendered a money-making venture, but believed that if Buhari assumed office, Aisha would give it an entirely new humble perspective, stripped of the arrogance, commerce and loudness she said have attended it. “Although the General has said that he would not have an office for the First Lady, that cannot stop Aisha from engaging in some philanthropic ventures. The last time I spoke with her, she was so concerned about the plight of these internally displaced persons (IDPs). In fact, even now, she is always mobilising resources and food to be taken to the camps of these people,” Naja’atu said.
According to her, the First Lady hopeful has the ears of her husband, and as such women and youths of the country would have a significant role to play in the Buhari government, if elected in the February polls.
Although Aisha has been dodging the national stare, she has been an entrepreneur and employer of labour, apart from her sponsorship of the less privileged to acquire education. All these, according to findings, are done without giving consideration to gender.
Both Naja’atu and Lebi believe that with a woman like A’isha on the seat as the First Lady of Nigeria, women and youths, especially, would have cause to smile.