PRESIDENT-elect, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, is known for his Spartan lifestyle which is contradictory to the creation of a flamboyant office of First Lady for his wife, no matter under what guise.

As a younger military officer and Head of State between 1984 and 1985, Buhari’s wife was holed up in the background and absolutely nothing was publicly known about the family of a stern ruler whose main passion was creating a new ways of doing things by instilling discipline in Nigerians.

During the build-up to the March 28 presidential poll, the issue of the office of the First Lady was brought to the front burner and Buhari, not wanting to take the label of a male chauvinist, had to bring out his wife to join the campaign train.

Afterwards, Aisha, Buhari’s wife, took a front seat role and led a separate team comprising Dolapo, wife of the Vice-Presidential candidate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and others, to add a refreshingly feminine touch to the campaign and even raised funds in the process to assist their husbands.

With the emerging picture of a Buhari,” an apostle of change” that is not as “hard” as he used to be when he was in uniform, it is expected that the office of the First Lady would still function even if all the known excesses that were the reasons for the call for its cancellation, would have to be curtailed.

In the unfolding scenario of the face of the new first ladies to dominate the Nigerian social space in the next four years, the name “Aisha” has continued to feature prominently especially in the Northern part of the country.

Apart from Aisha Buhari, the wives of the governors-elect of Sokoto; Aminu Tambuwal, Kaduna; Nasir el-Rufai, Kebbi; Abubakar Atiku Bagudo and Niger; Abubakar Sanni Bello, all bear Aisha.

The name may soon find its way to the consciousness of Nigerians, many of who may begin to name their daughters ‘Aisha’ for good fortune.