Hajia Aisha Buhari, wife of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), has said that her husband’s political opponents only use his faith and principle to shield their misdemeanor.

At a rally in Benin, the Edo State capital, on Thursday, Mrs Buhari said, “Already, they have painted him (Buhari) black, using religion. I am happy today that Nigerians realise that they use religion as a cover to loot Nigeria. Any politician who talks to you about religion is a liar, he only wants to loot the treasury and the little resources you ought to enjoy. So say no politics merging it with religion to deceive the people.”

The rally, which was attended mostly by women, offered many the opportunity of drawing a contrast between the wives of the two presidential candidates.

While president Goodluck Johnathan's wife, Dame Patience Johnathan has been heavily criticised for her abrasive style and oft ill-conceived use of words in campaigning for her husband, Mrs Buhari's easy, almost laid back style combined with a proper command of the English diction were qualities that impressed highly some APC supporters, as they told News Express.

Mrs. Buhari also took time to speak about the peculiar challenges facing Nigerian women and how her husband would tackle them if elected.

She said: “Each zone of the country has its peculiar problems. For me in this (Edo) zone, girl-child trafficking should be considered one of our problems, though I know there is unemployment.

Unemployment is the major factor that contributes to brain drain and also the girl-child

trafficking. General Muhammadu Buhari is a leader who led Nigeria some decades ago and he

is coming back now to sanitise the system.”

Mrs. Buhari added: “I am here today to let Edo women know that when my husband is elected into office as President, all these will be history. The insecurity, the girl-child trafficking, suffering of the widows in the South-East will come to an end.

“There must be a cultural design that can accommodate the widow. A design that would make the girl-child comfortable wherever she is in this country. She doesn’t have to leave her country to go and prostitute elsewhere, it is not her portion.”

•Photo shows Aisha Buhari.

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