Wives of the two leading presidential candidates, President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari, have intensified campaigns primarily to convince Nigerian women to vote for their husbands in the March 28 presidential polls. Our reporter examines their journeys so far.

Prior to the emergence of General Buhari as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), many Nigerians did not know the name of his wife let alone recognise her. But same cannot be said of Mrs Patience Jonathan, who has been in the news all the time.

However, on Tuesday, January 13, 2015, Hajiya Aisha Buhari made her first political appearance during her husband's campaign rally in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Both Patience and Aisha now try to outwit each other as they campaign for their spouses in every part of the country.

Hajiya Aisha Buhari appeared in Abeokuta alongside her daughter Halima and wife of her husband's running mate Mrs Oludolapo Yemi Osinbajo. There, she spoke briefly and urged the electorate to vote her husband. Since then, Aisha has been going from one place to another campaigning for her husband.

Subsequently, Aisha and Mrs Osinbajo stormed Owerri, the Imo State capital for the party's South East women rally. The rally, which held at the Grasshoppers' International Stadium, Owerri, was attended by wife of the state governor Mrs Nkechi Okorocha among others.

Speaking at the event, Aisha said if voted into power, her husband would bring an end to insurgency, corruption and unemployment and also ensure that the people enjoy other basic necessities of life.

She therefore urged all present to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). She expressed optimism that the APC would win the elections both at the state and federal levels. She equally commended Imo women for coming out en masse to welcome her team.

Again, on February 2, Hajiya Aisha attended a sensitisation workshop with some APC women in Abuja and assured that Buhari would not do anything against the office of the first lady.

"If my husband is elected as the president of this country, he will rule the country within the rule of law based on the constitution of the country. If the office of the first lady is constitutionally recognised, he will not tamper with it, but if it is not that's okay.

"For me, I will perform my duties and roles as the wife of the President of Nigeria traditionally. Wives of presidents have some traditional roles, like receiving guests, visiting orphanages, helping the less privileged people.

"They also lead in the fight for the right of women and malnourished children, infant mortality rate, kidnapping and girl-child trafficking," she said.

Hajiya Aisha, at another women forum, where she was represented by the coordinator of the APC Women Presidential Campaign Initiative, Hajiya Salamatu Jibril, urged Nigerian women not to sell their voters' cards.

She stressed the importance of women participation in the forthcoming general elections and urged them to cast and protect their votes.

"In view of this, I urge all to obtain your permanent voter cards to enable you vote for the party during the elections. More important is that you also recognise the logo and know how to thumb print appropriately to prevent voided votes. I also want to appeal to you not to sell your vote to any party as it is the only weapon you can use to drive the PDP out of government," she noted.

Later in February, Hajiya Aisha stepped up the campaign for her husband when she visited and donated drugs worth about N135 million at internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in Adamawa State.

Accompanied by a former deputy governor of Plateau State, Pauline Tallen, wife of the governor of Rivers State, Mrs Judith Amaechi; wife of Nasarawa State governor and others, Mrs. Buhari visited IDP camps at Demare and Saint Theresa. Presenting the items, Aisha said: "It is unfortunate that Nigerians have been turned to refugees in their country; Nigerians are in dire need of change.

"While we commiserate with you over the most unfortunate incident that has befallen you, which has also brought you here, I want to also stress the need for Nigerians to consider a candidate with integrity, devoid of sentiment.

"It is our fervent prayer that the problem will be over for peace and normalcy to return to the land. Let us join hands to rebuild Nigeria that has been put in disarray by a weak leadership."

Just two days ago, Mrs Buhari was in Kwara State to campaign for her husband once again, but this time around, her convoy was reportedly attacked by hoodlums in Ilorin, the state capital.

The attack, it was gathered, was carried out when she and her entourage were returning from a visit to the Emir of Ilorin Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari. She was in the state for a two-day voter education summit.

Media reports said no fewer than 10 vehicles were vandalised during the attack, although nobody was said to have sustained injury during the incident. It was gathered that Mrs. Buhari's other campaign activities remain underground.

Right from the onset, Dame Patience Jonathan was known everywhere as one of the major campaigners of the Jonathan re-election bid. She never let an opportunity pass by in her quest to have her husband stay at the Presidential Villa beyond May 29, 2015. She campaigns for her husband at every forum she attends.

Prior to the postponement of the earlier scheduled February 14 presidential polls, Mrs. Jonathan was not very visible, at least, on her own. But immediately after the postponement, Mrs. Jonathan swung into action, visiting state after state to woo women to vote her husband.

So far, Mrs. Jonathan and the PDP women campaign wing have visited many states including Kogi, Imo, Cross River, Edo, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Kwara, Delta and many others.

During one of such campaigns in Imo State, Mrs. Jonathan assured Nigerian women that her husband would ensure more women participation in governance by increasing the slots reserved for women from 35 to 40 percent.

In Ekiti, Patience said: "This is a government who believe in women that you are intelligent that you went to school, he appointed one of you as a Minister of Finance and the coordinating Minister of Economy.

"Also because of the confidence Mr President has for women, he has appointed one of you as a Minister of Petroleum who is now the president of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)."

She said the president has embarked on many projects that are beneficial to women through the office of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and SURE-P that would raise the standard of women in the country.

In Calabar, Cross River State, Mrs. Jonathan told women:"Our people do not give birth to uncountable children. Our men don't give birth to children they dump in the streets. We are not like people from that part of the country," apparently referring to the people in the North.

Mrs. Jonathan did not stop there as she equally told women who gathered in Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State: "Akwa Ibom people, judge O, because we are not here for lies. We are not here for propaganda, because their own number one campaign is corruption. As if them are not corrupt. They are not corrupt.

"What do you call corruption? He has a house. You, are you living outside? Are you living in the forest? It's corruption.

"In abroad, if a young boy works so hard and buy a copter, we praise the boy. But in Nigeria, if a young boy works so hard and buy a copter, we say he's corrupt. Why?" she noted.

Mrs. Jonathan went into personality attack when she said in Lokoja, Kogi State that General Buhari was "brain-dead."

However, Mrs. Jonathan's campaign in Edo State was not a happy one as some youths suspected to be members of the ruling party destroyed posters and banners of the first lady at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin, venue of the event. The suspected youths were later arrested by the police.

The rally later took off despite other challenges such as the reported fainting of two women who could not bear the stress of staying under the scorching sun.

At the Benin event, Patience told the women: "In Nigeria, I saw a train last when I was very young; I was still in the primary school. But today, we can see the train is moving.

"Everybody stayed there for eight years. Now it is our turn; so, we must complete our eight years because God has ordained it. We will complete our two tenures; we will hand over.

"Tomorrow, they will say 'Mrs. Jonathan is corrupt.' Through where is she corrupt? I don't have any budget attached to my office. Go and probe me and see whether there is any budget attached to my office. I don't touch your money. Whatever I have, I worked for it," she said.

Similarly, during a meeting with PDP women that included female deputy governors, wives of the party's governorship candidates and their deputies as well as other party women leaders, Mrs. Jonathan advised the PDP women to intensify campaigns for the party's victory.

"Let us work harder and mobilise the people in our various states and communities to vote for the PDP candidates at all levels of the elections. "We will continue to discuss and chart the way forward towards ensuring the success of PDP candidates in the March 28 and April 11, 2015, elections," she said.

Thus, as the spouses of the two leading presidential candidates make frantic efforts to woo Nigerian women, it remains to be seen who between them will laugh last.