Former First Lady, Aisha Buhari has revealed that gossip within Aso Rock suggesting she planned to poison her husband led former President Muhammadu Buhari to change his habits, disrupt his feeding routine, and ultimately suffer the health crisis that kept him away from office for months in 2017.
Her account is contained in a new 600-page biography, From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, authored by Dr Charles Omole and unveiled on Monday at the State House, Abuja.
According to the book, Aisha Buhari dismissed claims that her husband’s illness was caused by poisoning or a mysterious ailment, insisting it stemmed from the breakdown of a carefully managed nutrition routine she had supervised for years.
She explained that Buhari, whom she described as “a slender man with a long history of malnutrition symptoms,” depended on a strict schedule of meals and supplements to maintain strength, especially in old age.
“Elderly bodies require gentle, consistent support,” she recalled telling aides, stressing that Buhari did not suffer from a chronic illness but needed discipline and routine.
The book states that after the family moved into Aso Rock, Mrs Buhari convened a meeting with key officials, including Buhari’s physician, Suhayb Rafindadi; the Chief Security Officer, Bashir Abubakar; the housekeeper; and the DSS Director General, to outline the feeding and supplement plan.
She detailed a daily regimen involving “cups and bowls with tailored vitamin powders and oils, a touch of protein here, a change to cereals there,” all administered at specific hours.
However, the routine soon collapsed amid rumours within the Villa.
“Then came the gossip and the fearmongering. They said I wanted to kill him,” the book quotes her as saying.
She disclosed that Buhari believed the rumours for a short period, began locking his room, altered small habits, and, most critically, stopped taking meals and supplements regularly.
“For a year, he did not have lunch. They mismanaged his meals,” she said.
The deterioration culminated in Buhari’s two extended medical trips to the United Kingdom in 2017, totalling 154 days, during which he temporarily transferred power to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Upon his return, Buhari publicly admitted he had “never been so ill” and had received blood transfusions, fuelling widespread speculation and conspiracy theories about his health.
Mrs Buhari firmly rejected claims of poisoning, maintaining that the real cause was the loss of what she called “my nutrition”—the structured feeding routine she had long managed.
In London, doctors reportedly prescribed an even stronger supplement regimen. Initially hesitant, Buhari later recovered after his wife took charge of administering the supplements, discreetly mixing them into his meals.
“After just three days, he threw away the stick he was walking with. After a week, he was receiving relatives,” she recounted.
Omole noted that while critics viewed Buhari’s reliance on UK hospitals as evidence of Nigeria’s failing health system, a more compassionate view recognised the need for specialised care for an elderly man after decades of underinvestment in healthcare.
The book also highlighted Buhari’s consistent practice of handing over authority to his deputy during medical absences, describing it as a mark of institutional discipline.
Additionally, it revealed a climate of deep mistrust within the Presidency. Mrs Buhari alleged surveillance, including the bugging of the President’s office and playback of private conversations, claiming fear and conscience “contributed to taking his life.”
She also dismissed rumours that Buhari had a body double, popularly known as “Jibril of Sudan,” describing them as absurd and a product of poor strategic communication that allowed harmless developments to spiral into conspiracy theories.