Many people may not know much about the first wife of the President, Retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari.
President Buhari had a first wife before his marriage to Aisha, he was first married in December 1971 to Safinatu. Hajiya Safinatu. Safinatu was born on the 11th of December, 1952 into the family of Alhaji Yusuf Mani, and Hajia Hadizatu Mani in the Plateau State Capital, Jos, but hails from Mani in Katsina State.
In 1971, she graduated with a degree from the Teachers Training College (WTC) in Katsina.
It was reported that, Safinatu first met President Muhammad Buhari at the young age of 14. President Buhari, during his tenure in the Nigerian Army, accompanied his late friend General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua to Safinatu’s father.
At that time, Safinatu’s father was working as secretary to Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua who was the then Lagos State Minister for the first Republic.
As their love grew, the couple got married and had five children together, a son Musa (deceased son), and four daughters, Zulaihat (Zulai) the first daughter who was named after Buhari’s mother, Hadiza, Fatima and Safinatu. The former first lady, Safinatu, died from complications of diabetes on the 14th of January 2006, she was buried in accordance with Islamic rites at Unguwar Rimi cemetery.
In November of 2012, Buhari’s first daughter, Zulaihat (née Buhari) Junaid died from sickle cell anaemia, just two days after having a baby at a hospital in Kaduna.
Buhari and his first wife Safinatu got divorced In 1988, and in December 1989, Buhari got married to his current wife Aisha Buhari (née Halilu). The couple also had five children together namely, Aisha, Halima, Yusuf, Zahra and Amina.
Ojibe Izuchukwu is a Nigerian student with a passion for media reporting and content writing.
