(FRANKS..)
Soft-spoken but extremely eloquent;
there are many things that make Aisha Buhari, wife of Nigeria’s new
president, thick. Blessed with an infectious smile; many, often as a
result of her warm disposition, underrate the power that lies in her.
Though, only soaring in popularity in
recent months especially in the build up to the March 28 presidential
election, where her husband, Muhammadu, a retired general and former
Head of State, coasted to an overwhelming victory, Aisha has always been
a known face especially among people who seek to pamper their bodies.
The First Lady, until recently, owned one of the biggest spas and beauty
institutes in the country.
Situated along Camp Road, a high brow
area of Ungwan-Rimi Government Residential Area in Kaduna, Hanzy Spa and
Hanzy Beauty Institute was always a beehive of activities all week
long. It is the first beauty institute in northern Nigeria, a National
Board of Technical Education accredited vocational training centre and
registered by the Ministry of Education with the aim of exploring the
untapped wealth in the emerging beauty industry.
However, since the victory of her
husband in March and his eventually swearing-in in Abuja, Aisha has
since closed down the beauty parlour to take up the new role of
Nigeria’s First Lady. The spa and beauty institute patronised by
individuals across class, was sighted close to the private residence of
the immediate past Vice President, Namadi Sambo. The institute was
consulted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/Kaduna Refining
and Petrochemical Company to help train individuals under its Youth
Empowerment and Skill Acquisition Programme.
But as popular and strategically-placed
as the spa and beauty institute was, not many knew Aisha was the brains
behind it. Like her more popular husband, who is famed for shying away
from the limelight and prefers to stay in the background most of the
time, she operated the business only as a professional and not as wife
of a former Head of State. Many clients, who visited the place and also
came across her, attested to how simple and impressive at customers’
relations she was.
But Aisha didn’t just venture into the
business of pampering people’s skin and bodies; she worked very hard to
learn the tricks of the business and how to succeed in it. A trained
esthetician, who obtained a diploma in Beauty Therapy from the Carlton
Institute of Beauty Therapy, Windsor, United Kingdom and a certificate
course from the French Beauty School, Esthetique Academie Dubai, she is a
member of the United Kingdom’s Vocational Training and Charitable Trust
and the International Health and Beauty Council.
In an interview she granted Thisday Style
last year, the beautiful Adamawa State-born mother of five said, “I’m a
very busy person who does her things quietly. I keep to my profession
as an esthetician, managing my spa and beauty institute both in Kaduna
and Abuja. I also personally perform some advanced facial treatments
like mesotherapy, gold facial and application of TCA etc. I have a
number of documentations on my experience in this area including writing
a book, The Essentials of Beauty Therapy.
Though, now saddled with the bigger
responsibility of giving her husband the needed moral and emotional
support required to bring massive transformation to a country craving
for change, Aisha’s training and experience as a beauty expert could
come to bear in the colouration of things within her control in the
coming weeks. For neighbours close to the First Lady’s now closed beauty
institute, they would miss the atmosphere she brought to the area.