Tales of a Former First Lady, Mariya Yuguda   

 These are indeed turbulent moments for Hajiya Mariya Yuguda, one of the wives of the former Governor of Bauchi State, Malam  Isa Yuguda.

Spyglass learnt that the exit of her husband from power might have started taking its toll on her. Unlike when her husband was at the helm of affairs, there are insinuations that she is currently going through financial constraints to run her pet-project,  A .D Rufai Foundation, which was created to pursue issues that are germane to the survival and progress of the society. Virtually all Yuguda’s friends and beneficiaries of his government who had been of financial  assistance to the foundation have since abandoned Mariya to grapple with the trauma of a financially incapacitated pet-project. Sources of funding the foundation include fund-raising activities and partnership with government and donor agencies.

 ‘’So terrible is the financial crisis at the foundation that almost all the workers have left because their salaries and allowances could not be paid. At the moment, the corporate headquarters of the foundation located a few metres away from Bauchi State Government House stands  empty  with only a gateman,’’ a source revealed.

 Few months after her husband’s tenure, some official vehicles of the state allegedly being used for the foundation were retrieved from Mariya on the directive of the state Governor,  Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar. As if all these are not enough, reliable sources disclosed that Mariya, who enjoyed a long vacation from her official duties when her husband was governor has been finding it difficult to adjust to her job in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) as an assistant director without all the paraphernalia of governor’s wife.

Mariya, a graduate of law from Ahmadu Bello University, who was once rumoured to have been divorced by Isa Yuguda founded the Senator A. D Rufai Foundation to immortalise the philanthropic ideals of her father.

Mariya is a professional administrator; she was commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development in Bauchi State between 2001 and 2004.