The soft-spoken but extremely eloquent, Aisha Buhari, wife of Nigeria’s new president, has traits that make her 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 very close 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. (Punch).