
Two sources close to President Muhammadu Buhari have told SR that there was growing concern over the apparent determination of the president’s wife, Aisha Buhari, to transform herself into a politically powerful spouse, in defiance of her the clear directive by her husband.
The sources said that President Buhari had ordered that his wife not be officially addressed as “First Lady,” adding, however, that Mrs. Buhari has been operating as one.
Mrs. Turai Yar’Adua emerged as a brooding operator who became the power behind the throne of her husband’s Presidency. When Mr. Yar’Adua took gravely ill and was hospitalized for long periods in a Saudi hospital, his wife, Turai, oversaw an ambitious scam to hoodwink Nigerians into believing that her comatose husband was still ably running Nigeria.
Immediate past First Lady Patience Jonathan exhibited some of the worst attributes of recent presidential spouses. A loquacious figure, she often inserted herself in state affairs, openly feuded with political figures, and was given to an ostentatious lifestyle. Her critics said she often courted or demanded huge cash gifts as well as land and cars from political officials, including governors and ministers.
However, our two sources alleged that the incumbent president’s wife seemed determined to build herself into a First Lady in the mold of her three past predecessors.
She was reportedly in a haste to move into Aso Rock Villa, and ended up relocating to the President’s official residence three days before her husband moved in. One source said she brought along to Aso Rock three powerful friends who have been running her office as though she has an official title. The three women are former Senator Pauline Tallen from Plateau State, Fatimat Abubakar, wife of former Vice President Atiku, and a former Minister of Women Affairs, Hajia Hajo Sani.
Sahara Reporters source disclosed that the activities of Buhari's wife’s three friends had become a cause for concern for President Buhari.
He said, “Mr. President [Buhari] is a simple man by nature. He still doesn’t want his wife, Aisha Buhari, to begin to play the kind of role that former First Lady Patience Jonathan played.”
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