For the past five years, "Mama Boko Haram" - the name given to her by locals - has been negotiating a peace agreement between religious fighters and Nigerian authorities in Maiduguri, the main city in the troubled northeast.
From her home in Maiduguri's Shehuri North district, the former stronghold for Boko Haram, Aisha recalled how she first became acquainted with the hard-line group, which has received global notoriety for recently abducting more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, and its violent programme to implement strict Islamic law across Nigeria.
Thousands of people have died - more than 2,000 so far this year - and an estimated 750,000 Nigerians have been driven from their homes in the five-year-old conflict. In April 2013, Aisha was one of two women appointed to the government-initiated Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North. She was also named as a must-have participant by Boko Haram representatives.
A lawyer and human rights activist, Aisha along with 25 other committee members consisting of politicians and northern community leaders were given the task of identifying and engaging key leaders of Boko Haram, and developing a framework for amnesty and disarmament of the group.
Sheathed in a full black niqab with only her light brown eyes peering out from behind her spectacles, the 44-year-old told Al Jazeera about how she first became involved with Boko Haram, including its slain chief Mohammed Yusuf who was shot dead allegedly while trying to escape police custody in 2009.
"I would visit his house regularly and always cooked food to bring to the almajaris [pupils] of the Quranic school," Aisha said.
"Yusuf would always be there preaching and he liked my cooking very much, especially my egusi soup. He prayed that Almighty Allah would reward me because so many were eating from my pot, and that was how we established a close relationship. The boys called me 'mum'. Many of them didn't have mothers."
Killed in custody
Aisha described the cult of personality that Yusuf developed among his followers.
"Yusuf would attract a large crowd whenever he preached, especially the youth. He was a very good orator and he knew the Quran very well. I think that was what really carried people away with him," she said.
But as the number of his supporters began to grow and his rhetoric intensified, Nigerian authorities began to run out of patience.
"Yusuf was giving a sermon insulting the government. They wanted Sharia law implemented across the entire country. That was when Yusuf started getting dragged into the police net. They would arrest him for one thing or another," said Aisha.
Yusuf confided in her that Boko Haram was planning to "wage war" amid increasing repression and government violence. "It had got serious … He said, 'Mum you were here when they shot and killed my followers and as we were carrying the bodies they shot us again. My hands are tied, but if we're able to meet governor Ali Sheriff [former governor of Borno state] and talk things over, the war will not happen.'"
That meeting did not take place, however, after Yusuf died in police custody on July 30, 2009. Since then, violence in the region has dramatically escalated, and the government later turned to Aisha to use her influence as "Mama Boko Haram" to initiate peace talks.
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| 'Mama Boko Haram' grasps for peace in Nigeria |
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