Who becomes Nigeria’s first lady: extrovert patience or introvert Aisha?

Patience Jonathan and Aisha Buhari
The Nigerian constitution does not recognise the office of the
First Lady which is a title for the spouse of the head of state
or president of Nigeria. However, the office has remained one
of the most funded and staffed since independence and the
First Lady is addressed by the title Her Excellency.
Nigeria has had several first ladies since independence but the
late Maryam Babangida, wife of Nigeria’s military president
from 1985 to 1993, General Ibrahim Babagida, began the
trend.
As first lady, she launched many programmes to improve the
lives of women. The “Maryam Phenomenon” became a
celebrity and “an icon of beauty, fashion and style,” a position
she retained after her husband’s fall from power.
When her husband became Head of State in 1985, Maryam
Babangida moved into Dodan Barracks in Lagos. She was said
to have arranged for considerable renovations to make the
rooms more suitable for formal receptions. As First Lady of
Nigeria between 1985 and 1993, she turned the ceremonial
post into a champion for women’s rural development. She
founded the Better Life Programme for Rural Women in 1987,
which launched co-operatives, cottage industries, farms and
gardens, shops and markets, women’s centres and social
welfare programmes. The Maryam Babangida National Centre
for Women Development was established in 1993 for research,
training, and to mobilise women towards self-emancipation.
She also established a glamorous persona. Talking about the
opening of the seven-day Better Life Fair in 1990, one
journalist said “She was like a Roman empress on a throne,
regal and resplendent in a stone-studded flowing outfit that
defied description…” Women responded to her as a role model,
and her appeal lasted long after her husband fell from power.
But the current First Lady in the person of Dame Patience
Faka Jonathan is one woman who shares the political space
equally with her husband, regardless of what the constitution
says about her office.
If her husband is re-elected, Nigerians may not see much
difference from what Mrs. Jonathan has done as their First
Lady for the past six years. But if General Muhammadu Buhari
of the All Progressives Congress gains the upper hand, then
Nigerians would then have a new experience with Mrs. Aisha
Buhari as the First Lady.
Dame Jonathan is reputed as a woman who holds court,
summoning ministers, even governors for meetings. Dame
Jonathan is not your regular first lady that is content with the
glamour of office; she is as active, if not more, than her
husband in the politics and politicking of the Peoples
Democratic Party of Nigeria.
With her influence, so many people have been appointed
ministers, permanent secretaries, ambassadors, name it. In
fact, through her, many governorship candidates have received
endorsement to contest in their home states.
Mr. Evans Bipi, a member representing Ogu Bolo State
Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, described
the first lady as his Jesus Christ. When he was asked why he
calls her mummy even when he was no way related to her nor
come from her local government, he said, “Have you forgotten
that she is from Okrika? So, whoever attains the position of
the First Lady, what would you call the person? You call her
mummy. She is the mother of the nation and she is the
mouthpiece of Okrika people. She is the mother of Okrika
people. So, every Okrika person calls her mummy. Ogu Bolo is
Okrika. They are all Okrika people. It is like Ikwerre and Obio/
Akpor; they are all Ikwerre. It is only the local government
area that split them. So, as an Okrika woman, who has risen
up to that position, everybody calls her mummy.”
He also justified why he called her his Jesus Christ on earth,
“Let me say this. Man is God to man; it is in the Bible. You
must not see God; you will see God through somebody. God
said, see me through Jesus Christ. That is why we are seeing
God through Jesus Christ. This woman (Patience Jonathan) is
everything in my life. She made me what I am today.
Politically and otherwise; I can say it anywhere. I can say she
is my Jesus Christ because she has made me who I am
today. That is the truth and I can defend that anywhere.
“Babangida’s wife was from Delta State. Her people called her
mummy. Yar’Adua’s wife is from Katsina, all the people from
Katsina call her mummy. Even Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s
wife, the people call her mummy. When a woman attains such
level, everybody calls her mummy. It is a form of respect. But
to me, my mummy (Patience Jonathan) is special because she
brought me up to this level.”
His testimony is not different from that of her other
beneficiaries and she wields enormous power.
On her own, she anointed Nyeson Wike, the present
governorship candidate of the PDP in her home state, Rivers,
to dislodge Rotimi Amaechi, after falling out with the
governor. Because of the respect the Bayelsa State Governor,
Mr. Henry Seriake Dickson had for her, he made her a
permanent secretary in July 2012 even after a long time
absence from work. But when she fell out with the governor,
she resigned from the office to show her annoyance. She then
handpicked the Special Assistant to the President on Domestic
Matters, Mr. Waripamowei Dudafa to take over from Dickson
in 2016 irrespective of the governor’s aspiration for a re-
election.
The likes of Chief Christopher Alao-Akala, a former governor
and deputy governor of Oyo State, would not forget in a hurry
the role Dame Jonathan played in the politics of the PDP in
Oyo State when she summoned their leaders and advised
them to make the former governor of the state, Chief Rashidi
Ladoja, the PDP flag bearer, even after the latter had since left
the party and become the founder of Accord Party. Akala is
today the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Oyo
State.
She is a woman who makes no pretence about her views.
After a long absence from the country amidst speculations
that she was down at a German hospital, the presidency and
her office kept on assuring the citizens that she had merely
travelled to rest after the rigours of the 2011 elections and
hosting of the African First Ladies Summit.
But on February 17, 2013, she came out to tell the stunning
story of how she rose from death after being dead for a week
during a thanksgiving service in Abuja. She debunked the
stories dished out from her husband’s office completely
without scruples.
Punctuating her testimony with praise songs, Patience, who
refused to read from a speech prepared for her, narrated to the
congregation how she underwent nine surgeries within one
month in London.
“It was not an easy experience for me. I actually died; I
passed out for more than a week. My intestine and tummy
were opened.
“I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to his own.
My doctors said all hope was lost.
“People are always afraid of operation (surgery) but in my
own case, while my travail lasted, I was begging for it
(surgery) after the third operation because I was going to the
theatre every day.
“It was God who saw me through. I did eight or nine
operations within one month. It was not an easy one.”
When the Chibok girls were abducted by the dreaded Boko
Haram terrorists, Dame Patience beat her husband to take
action by summoning to Aso Rock those she believed could
explain what happened.
The video recording of the meeting in Abuja went viral and
trended so much, particularly the part where she discarded the
English language for her preferred pidgin and launched into a
tirade against the principal of the school and the Borno State
governor and his wife.
That was where she asked the principal, ‘Na only you waka
come?’ She broke down in tears and told the state governor
and those who wanted to rubbish her husband’s government
that, ‘There’s God o.’
Dame Patience Jonathan is more at home in her native
language and pidgin English, irrespective of the occasion.
Yet, the First Lady was sufficiently educated.
Born in Port Harcourt, she earned her school certificate in
1976, and passed the West African School Certificate
Examination in 1980. In 1989, she obtained the National
Certificate of Education in Mathematics and Biology from the
Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt. She
then proceeded to the University of Port Harcourt and studied
for a B.Ed in Biology and Psychology.
For Mrs. Aishat Buhari, wife of the presidential candidate of
the APC, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), the office of
the First Lady could turn out to be a completely different
experience if her husband wins the election and becomes the
president.
When her husband became the head of state in the 80s, she
had not yet appeared in the picture as she was said to have
got married to the General in 1989. At a time during the
electioneering, the ruling PDP made it an issue that Maj.-
Gen.Buhari might not have a place for a woman in public life.
As a former head of state, his then wife remained anonymous
throughout.
And when he started the current campaign, there was no sign
of a woman with him, creating the fear that he might not be
women friendly. That was when the picture of his wife
appeared on the social media and she turned out to be a
stunning beauty.
The opposition was still not satisfied. In fact, critics concluded
that the General must be less enamoured with women by
refusing to pose for pictures with his family.
When Buhari’s campaign train hit Abeokuta, Ogun State, early
this year, the major highlight was the unveiling of his wife. In
fact, both Buhari and his running mate, Professor Yemi
Osinbajo, used the occasion to pose with their wives and with
the way the pictures trended on the social media, many
Nigerians were impressed by the images of the potential First
Lady and her deputy.
Of course, all the major newspapers splashed the pictures on
their front pages the following day.
Aishat Buhari was drawn out to the public glare and as such,
observers are still trying to assess her to see the kind of First
Lady she will turn out to be if her husband is victorious at the
polls.
One thing is sure though, Maj.-Gen. Buhari has a softer side
represented by his gorgeous wife, Aisha.
Mrs. Buhari obtained a diploma in Beauty Therapy at Carlton
Institute of Beauty Therapy Windsor in United Kingdom; she
also obtained a certificate course in French Beauty School,
Esthetique Academie Dubai. She is also a member of UK’s
Vocational Training and Charitable Trust and the International
Health and Beauty Council.
Aisha also holds National Certificate in Education, a Bachelor
of Arts Degree at Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma and Masters
in International Affairs and Strategic Studies from Nigerian
Defence Academy, Kaduna. She is the founder/Managing
Director of Hanzy Spa and Principal of Hanzy Beauty Institute.
Though Aisha has managed to limit her public gaffes, what
she said about Edo women has drawn the wrath of the people
of the area. Aisha had said that if her husband is elected, he
would make sure that there were enough jobs so that young
women from Edo State would no longer take to prostitution.
The women group in the state took her up on this. She must
have learnt some lessons from the criticisms that trailed her
comments.
Nevertheless, she has said, “For me, I will perform my duties
and role as the wife of the President of Nigeria traditionally.”