Aisha Buhari Says Late President Briefly Believed Claims She Wanted to Poison Him
Former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has revealed that her late husband, President Muhammadu Buhari, briefly believed rumours circulating within the Presidential Villa that she planned to poison him, a situation that led him to alter his daily routines and withdraw from meals she personally supervised.
The disclosure is contained in a newly released biography titled From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, written by Dr. Charles Omole and unveiled at the State House on Monday.
Shocking details from the book were highlighted by Imran Mohammed on his official X handle.
According to Mrs. Buhari, the false allegations emerged during a tense period marked by internal mistrust and speculation around the President’s health, particularly during his prolonged medical absence in 2017.
“Then came the gossip and the fearmongering. They said I wanted to kill him,” the book quotes her as saying.
She disclosed that Buhari accepted the claims for a short period, noting, “My husband believed them for a week or so,” a development that reportedly caused him to lock his room, change some personal habits and distance himself from meals she had carefully prepared.
Mrs. Buhari explained that the disruption to his feeding routine had serious consequences. “Meals were delayed or missed; the supplements were stopped,” she said, adding, “For a year, he did not have lunch. They mismanaged his meals.”
She clarified that Buhari’s health crisis in 2017, which resulted in a 154-day medical leave in the United Kingdom, was not caused by poisoning or any mysterious ailment, as widely speculated at the time, but by prolonged nutritional neglect.
For years, she had personally overseen his diet and supplements to stabilise his health.
According to her account, once proper nutrition and supplementation were restored in London, Buhari’s condition improved rapidly.
She revealed that he abandoned his walking stick just three days after resuming the regimen.
The biography also sheds light on deep-seated mistrust within the Presidential Villa, including allegations of surveillance and conspiracy theories that followed Buhari throughout his presidency, such as the widely circulated but debunked “Jibril of Sudan” body double claim.
The 600-page, 22-chapter book chronicles Buhari’s journey from his childhood in Daura, Katsina State, through his military and political career, to his death in a London hospital in July 2025 at the age of 82.
The revelations offer a rare personal insight into the private struggles surrounding Buhari’s health and presidency, as well as the toll of internal intrigue at the highest levels of power.
