In June 2015 shortly after he was inaugurated, President Muhammadu Buhari travelled to South Africa and used the opportunity to meet with Nigerians resident in that country.
During the interactive session, the septuagenarian Nigerian leader did not mince words in saying that his age would limit his performance as the president of the country. “I wish I became Head of State when I was a governor. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do,” he had said.
It however seems Buhari has found a way round the limitations imposed by age.
In tackling that challenge, the President has some trusted hands around him that he often delegates duties to with specific instructions. With such huge national duties in their care, these individuals wield huge influence in the seat of power. They are powerful; in fact, they are rulers of Nigeria.
Aisha Buhari
Mrs. Aisha Buhari, 45, is the wife of the President. She doesn’t use the title ‘First Lady’ favoured by the wives of previous Presidents and Heads of State. She prefers to be addressed as ‘Wife of the President.’ However, Mrs Buhari is as powerful as her predecessors.
She wields considerable influence in the administration of her husband. She is respected by most of the nation’s power brokers. She is also seen as a fountain of influence by the women and men who travel regularly within Nigeria’s corridors of power seeking one government favour or the other.
She has wives of some state governors, especially those whose husbands were elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress and wives of leaders of the National Assembly, in her innermost circle and they do her every bidding. Indeed, her first attempt at asserting herself was focused on this group.
In January, she restructured the Nigerian Governors’ Wives Forum along geopolitical lines.
She did this during a meeting held at the First Lady’s Conference Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja with all the 36 governors’ wives present.
There, she divided the forum into the Northern Governors Wives Forum headed by Zamfara State governor’s wife, Asma’u Abdul’aziz Yari and the Southern Governors’ Wives Forum chaired by Imo State governor’s wife, Nneoma Nkechi Okorocha.
Like her predecessors in office, Mrs. Buhari floated a pet project, Future Assured, with the aim of empowering women and children.
Within one year in power, the President’s wife has presented two books. During the two book presentations, very powerful Nigerians who attended jostled to be in Mrs Buhari’s good books. First it was her book, ‘The Essentials of Beauty Therapy. A Complete Guide for Beauty Specialists.’ The second was the presentation of her selected speeches titled, ‘Matching words with action.’
‘The mother of the nation’ as she is fondly called is no doubt powerful. She rules in her own way from the comfort of her office located beside the President’s official residence inside the Presidential Villa.
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