Aisha Buhari Reveals Cause of Former President’s Health Challenges
Former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has revealed that rumours within the Presidential Villa alleging that she planned to kill her husband, the late President Muhammadu Buhari, created fear and mistrust that disrupted his feeding routine and, she believes, precipitated his prolonged illness in 2017.
Her account is contained in a new 600-page biography, From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, authored by Charles Omole and launched on Monday at the State House, Abuja.
According to Aisha Buhari, the President began avoiding her after the gossip gained traction, locking his room and abandoning a carefully managed nutrition regimen she had supervised for years.
She explained that Buhari’s 2017 health crisis, which forced him to take two medical trips to the United Kingdom totalling 154 days, did not result from poisoning or a mysterious ailment, but from the breakdown of a strict feeding and supplement schedule that had sustained him for decades.
Omole writes that Aisha Buhari had long overseen her husband’s meals and supplements, particularly before they moved from Kaduna to Aso Rock. She described Buhari as “a slender man with a long history of malnutrition symptoms” who depended on consistency to maintain strength.
“Elderly bodies require gentle, consistent support,” she recalled, insisting at the time that Buhari had no chronic illness but needed discipline in meals and supplements.
Upon assuming life in the Villa, she convened a meeting with key staff, including the personal physician, Dr Suhayb Rafindadi; the Chief Security Officer, Bashir Abubakar; the housekeeper; and the then Director-General of the Department of State Services, to outline the feeding plan.
The routine, she said, involved daily meals at specific hours, with carefully measured vitamin powders, oils, proteins and cereals.
However, the system soon collapsed.
“Then came the gossip and the fearmongering. They said I wanted to kill him,” the book quotes her as saying. According to her, Buhari believed the rumours for a short period, began changing his habits, and crucially, stopped following the nutrition schedule.
“Meals were delayed or missed; the supplements were stopped. For a year, he did not have lunch. They mismanaged his meals,” she said.
The deterioration culminated in Buhari’s extended medical leave in 2017, during which Vice President Yemi Osinbajo acted as President. On his return, Buhari admitted he had “never been so ill” and disclosed that he had received blood transfusions.
Omole notes that Buhari’s absence fuelled widespread speculation and conspiracy theories, including claims of poisoning, which the former First Lady firmly dismissed.
Her argument, the author writes, is that the “loss of a routine — ‘my nutrition’ — was the genesis of the crisis.”
In London, Buhari was placed on a more intensive supplement regimen by doctors. Initially, he was reportedly hesitant and frightened, prompting Aisha Buhari to take direct charge of his care.
“She slipped hospital-issued supplements into his juice and oats,” the book states.
The improvement, she said, was rapid.
“After just three days, he threw away the stick he was walking with. After a week, he was receiving relatives,” she recalled.
“That was the genesis, and also the reversal of his sickness,” she concluded.
While critics cited Buhari’s repeated medical trips abroad as evidence of Nigeria’s failing health system, Omole offers what he describes as a more compassionate view, arguing that a man in his seventies may require specialised care not readily available locally after decades of underinvestment in the sector.
EDITOR
Sam Udekwe is a journalist working in the News and Current Affairs department, Enugu State Broadcasting Service (ESBS) Enugu. He is well trained in all genres of journalistic venture.
Mr Sam read Mass Communication, graduating all with Distinction in National Diploma, Higher National Diploma and Postgraduate Diploma at IMT, Enugu and Madonna University, Okija, Anambra state, as well as M.Sc Mass Communication with Second Class(Upper Division) at National Open University of Nigeria.
He is the immediate past NUJ Chairman, Enugu state.
samowailo@gmail.com
