In spite of his pre-election campaign promise to scrap the office of First Lady, President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, Aisha, who chose to be called ‘Wife of the President’ instead of First Lady is said to be operating from the office of the First Lady vacated by former First Lady, Patience Jonathan.
According to reports, Aisha Buhari and her handlers have been working from the office which located within the Presidential Villa, beside the official residence of the President.
During his campaign, President Buhari was quoted as saying: “The Office of the First Lady is not in the constitution, so there’s no official role for them.”
According to report, asides the change in title, nothing has changed in the running of the office of the First Lady as the office still houses Aisha Buhari’s staff members, including personal aides, security details and protocol officials, same with all her previous predecessors.
Aisha Buhari has also towed the line of other First Ladies and has organised several events from the Presidential Villa complex, first of which was a “thank you dinner” held in honour of All Progressives Congress (APC) women and youths for supporting her husband’s candidacy.
She has also gone ahead to hold other events, including holding a seminar on protocol etiquette and security for wives of state governors in conjuction with a UK-based private firm.
At the end of the Ramadan fast, the “wife of the president” held an elaborate Sallah party.
All the aforementioned events were held in the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and were not devoid of pomp and pageantry.Further findings have it that Aisha Buhari is all set to initiate a pet project like her predecessors.
Director of Media in the Office of the Wife of the President, Zakari Yau Nadabo, on Thursday, August 6, 2015 availed thus: “It is not about initiating a pet project alone. The first step is to identify the area. The plan is already in the pipeline. Issues are just beginning to take shape.
“We do not want to rush. We want to take our time to do a careful analysis so that we can intervene in critical areas.”
