Aisha Buhari: Woman of the moment

 Olukorede Yishau, Associate Editor

SHE hugged one woman after the other: wife of Kogi State Governor Rashida Bello; Senior Special Assistant to the President (Administration) Hajo Sani and wife of former Governor of Nasarawa State Mairo Al-Makura, among others.

They smiled; they shook hands and were in expansive mood from the airport to the Villa. It was all for wife of the President Aisha Buhari. She had just returned from London, where she stayed for some time on “doctor’s instruction”. She travelled to Saudi Arabia in August and went to London from there.

Though it was her longest stay away from the country since her husband became President in 2015, it was not her first. So, why the attention and prayers showered on her by women at the airport and at the Villa?

Read Also: Aisha Buhari: Before the curtain falls

Flashback to Thursday and Friday: Her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari, according to merchants of fake news, was set to take another wife at the Central Mosque in Abuja. Invitation cards were printed and circulated on the social media. Dress code and other wedding details were worked out. Many were waiting for the wedding of the century and not a few felt the President was now ready to “deal with Aisha”, who has openly criticised his government and once said some people had taken over the reins of power.

There was also a viral video in which the First Lady was shouting at security agents for allegedly locking a door to prevent her from disrupting the planned wedding. “Enough is enough” was her bitter assertion in the video. There were also videos of a bride dancing and being sprayed with crispy notes at a traditional wedding party. And there were pseudo witnesses who claimed to be witnesses of truth. In fact, all was set Thursday night for a wedding eve party to be attended by the President’s men. It was all fake.

The supposed bride-to-be, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq, was in New York, United States (U.S.) on official assignment.