Former First Lady Aisha Buhari has opened up about the tense atmosphere around the Presidency during her husband’s time in office, revealing how rumours and fear deeply affected the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s health.
In a newly released biography titled From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, authored by Dr Charles Omole, Aisha Buhari recounted that gossip within Aso Rock once claimed she was plotting to kill her husband. She said the rumours were so convincing that Buhari began locking his room and changing his daily habits.
According to her, the health crisis that kept Buhari away from office for a total of 154 days in 2017 did not begin with poisoning or any mysterious illness, but with a breakdown in his carefully managed feeding routine. She explained that she had long overseen his meals and supplements, a system she believed was vital to sustaining his health, given his long history of malnutrition.
Aisha Buhari said the routine became disrupted after they moved into the Presidential Villa, as fear and misinformation led to missed meals and halted supplements. “For a year, he did not have lunch. They mismanaged his meals,” she was quoted as saying.
The former First Lady explained that she had earlier briefed key aides and security officials on Buhari’s nutritional plan, stressing that elderly bodies require consistent and gentle care. However, the environment of suspicion, she said, caused the system to collapse.
The situation worsened until Buhari travelled twice to the United Kingdom for medical treatment in 2017, where he later admitted he had never been so ill and had received blood transfusions. In London, doctors reportedly placed him on a stronger supplement regimen, which Aisha Buhari said helped him recover quickly once properly followed.
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She dismissed claims that her husband was poisoned and described such stories as false and damaging. Her position, as reflected in the book, is that the real cause of the crisis was the loss of routine and proper nutrition, and its restoration marked the beginning of his recovery.
The biography also addresses long-standing rumours about Buhari, including claims of a body double, which Aisha Buhari described as absurd. She blamed poor communication and an atmosphere of mistrust within government for allowing conspiracy theories to thrive during his presidency.
