Former First Lady Aisha Buhari has described how her late husband, ex-president Muhammadu Buhari, “began locking his room” when rumors circulated in Aso Rock that she (Aisha) was planning to kill him.
The former First Lady also stated that the health crisis that forced Buhari to take 154 days of medical vacation in 2017 began with a disrupted feeding schedule and poor nutrition.
She claimed that Buhari’s condition was neither a strange ailment nor poisoning.
Her description of the health crisis came in Dr. Charles Omole’s new 600-page biography, “From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari,” which was unveiled in the State House on Monday.
The 22-chapter book follows his early life in Daura, Katsina State, through his last hours in a London hospital in mid-July 2025.
According to the book, Mrs. Buhari had long supervised her husband’s meals and supplements at certain times, which she claimed helped “a slender man with a long history of malnutrition symptoms” maintain vigor.
“Elderly bodies require gentle, consistent support,” she recalled, adding, “He doesn’t have a chronic illness. Keep him on schedule.”
It read, “According to Aisha Buhari, her husband’s 2017 health crisis did not originate as a mysterious ailment or a covert plot. It started, she says, with the loss of a routine; ‘my nutrition,’ she describes it, a pattern of meals and supplements she had long overseen in Kaduna before they moved into Aso Villa.”
To outline the plan, the former First Lady called a meeting with intimate staff members such as the physician, Suhayb Rafindadi; the CSO, Bashir Abubakar; the housekeeper; and the SSS Director General.
She said, “Daily, cups and bowls with tailored vitamin powders and oils, a touch of protein here, a change to cereals there.”
“When the presidency’s machinery took over our private lives, she explained the plan: daily, at specific hours, cups and bowls with tailored vitamin powders and oil, a touch of protein here, a change to cereals there. Elderly bodies require gentle, consistent support,” Omole narrated.
“Then came the gossip and the fearmongering. They said I wanted to kill him,” the book quotes her as saying.
“My husband believed them for a week or so,” she claimed, disclosing that the president began locking his door, changing little routines, and, most importantly, “meals were delayed or missed; supplements were stopped.”
“For a year, he did not have lunch. They mismanaged his meals,” she added.
Buhari’s condition resulted in two extended medical travels to the United Kingdom totaling 154 days in 2017, during which he delegated authority to former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Upon his return, he admitted to being “never so ill” and receiving blood transfusions.
Buhari’s absences “sparked rumors, speculation, and even conspiracy theories,” Omole stated.
Mrs. Buhari denied allegations of conspiracies to poison her husband.
According to Omole, “loss of a routine, ‘my nutrition,’ was the genesis of the crisis.”
Doctors in London ordered an even stronger prescription of vitamins, he explained.
Initially, Buhari “was frightened and not taking them as prescribed. So she took charge of his welfare, slipping hospital-issued supplements into his juice and oats,” it stated.
The former First Lady characterized the turnaround as quick, stating, “After just three days, he threw away the stick he was walking with. After a week, he was receiving relatives.”
“‘That,’ she says, ‘was the genesis and also the reversal of his sickness,’” the book stated.
According to Omole, critics argue that Buhari’s dependency on UK hospitals reveals Nigeria’s healthcare system’s inadequacy.
A “more compassionate perspective,” he added, recognizes that a man in his 70s may require specialized treatment “not readily available in Nigeria” due to “decades of underinvestment.”
He also cited Buhari’s practice of delegating authority to his deputy during absences, which he claimed preserved “institutional propriety, even during personal health crises.”
The book also highlighted an environment of distrust surrounding the presidency.
Mrs. Buhari claimed monitoring, bugging of the President’s office with listening devices, and playback of intimate conversations, claiming that fear and conscience “contributed to taking his life.”
She dismissed the long-held allegation that Buhari had a body double, widely known as “Jibril of Sudan,” as ludicrous, claiming that poor strategic communication in government allowed simple, mundane happenings to escalate into conspiracies.
