Former First Lady Aisha Buhari has revealed that her late husband, President Muhammadu Buhari, was briefly misled by gossip in the Presidential Villa suggesting she intended to poison him.
According to her, the misinformation caused the President to lock his room and change his daily routines.
The disclosure comes from the newly released 600-page biography, From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, authored by Dr. Charles Omole and launched at the State House on Monday.
Mrs. Buhari explained that Buhari’s severe health crisis in 2017, which led to a 154-day medical leave in the UK, was due to disrupted meals and supplementation, not poisoning or any mysterious illness as widely speculated. She had long managed his diet and supplements to support his health.
“Then came the gossip and the fearmongering. They said I wanted to kill him,” she said. “My husband believed them for a week or so.”
She further disclosed that during this period, the President began locking his room, changed certain habits, and missed meals, with supplements being stopped. “For a year, he did not have lunch. They mismanaged his meals,” she said.
Mrs. Buhari noted that resuming proper nutrition and supplementation in London led to a swift recovery, with Buhari discarding his walking stick after just three days.
The biography also addresses palace mistrust, including allegations of surveillance and debunked conspiracy theories, such as the “Jibril of Sudan” body double rumor.
Spanning 22 chapters, the book chronicles Buhari’s life from his early days in Daura, Katsina State, to his death in a London hospital in July 2025 at age 82.
