How Buhari reacted when told I planned to kill him – Aisha

Former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has revealed how her late husband, former President Muhammadu Buhari, reacted to rumours circulating within the Presidential Villa that she was planning to kill him.

Aisha Buhari said the gossip led the former president to briefly believe the claims, prompting him to lock his room and abandon a strict feeding and nutrition routine she had put in place for his health.

Her account is contained in a new 600-page biography titled From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, written by Charles Omole and launched at the State House on Monday.

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According to the former First Lady, the health crisis that forced Buhari to spend a combined 154 days on medical leave in the United Kingdom in 2017 was not caused by poisoning or a mysterious illness, but by a disruption of his carefully managed nutrition regimen.

She explained that she had long supervised Buhari’s meals and supplements, a routine she said was essential for maintaining the strength of a “slender man with a long history of malnutrition symptoms.”

“Elderly bodies require gentle, consistent support. He doesn’t have a chronic illness. Keep him on schedule,” Aisha Buhari was quoted as saying.

The book recounts that before moving into Aso Rock, Buhari’s feeding routine was closely monitored in Kaduna.

Upon assuming office, Aisha said she convened a meeting with key aides — including Buhari’s physician, Suhayb Rafindadi; the Chief Security Officer, Bashir Abubakar; the housekeeper; and the Director-General of the State Security Service — to explain the nutrition plan.

However, the routine soon broke down.

“Then came the gossip and the fearmongering. They said I wanted to kill him,” Aisha Buhari said, adding that her husband believed the claims for about a week.

According to her, Buhari began locking his room, altered daily habits, and crucially stopped taking meals and supplements regularly.

“For a year, he did not have lunch. They mismanaged his meals,” she said.

The disruption, she maintained, triggered the deterioration of Buhari’s health, culminating in his two extended medical trips to the UK in 2017, during which Vice President Yemi Osinbajo served as Acting President.

Omole wrote that Buhari later admitted he had “never been so ill” and had received blood transfusions during the period, sparking widespread speculation and conspiracy theories about his condition.

Aisha Buhari dismissed claims of poisoning, insisting that the loss of routine nutrition was the real cause of the crisis.

In London, doctors reportedly prescribed an even more intensive supplement regimen. Initially hesitant, Buhari eventually recovered after Aisha took charge of administering the supplements.

“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,” the book quoted her as saying.

Omole noted that while critics viewed Buhari’s reliance on UK hospitals as evidence of Nigeria’s failing healthcare system, a more compassionate perspective recognises the specialised care often required by elderly patients after decades of systemic underinvestment in local health facilities.