Former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has revealed that the health crisis which forced her husband, the late President Muhammadu Buhari, to spend 154 days on medical leave in 2017 was caused by a breakdown in his carefully managed feeding routine, not poisoning or a mysterious illness.
Her account is detailed in a new 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. The book traces Buhari’s life from his childhood in Daura, Katsina State, to his final days in a London hospital in July 2025.
According to Mrs Buhari, she had long supervised her husband’s meals and supplements at specific hours, a regimen she said sustained “a slender man with a long history of malnutrition symptoms.” She explained:
“Elderly bodies require gentle, consistent support. He doesn’t have a chronic illness. Keep him on schedule.”
She recounted that after moving into Aso Villa, the routine was disrupted.
“Daily, cups and bowls with tailored vitamin powders and oils, a touch of protein here, a change to cereals there. Then came the gossip and the fearmongering. They said I wanted to kill him. My husband believed them for a week or so. 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 led to Buhari’s two extended medical trips to the UK in 2017, during which he temporarily handed power to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. On his return, Buhari admitted he had “never been so ill” and had undergone blood transfusions.
Mrs Buhari dismissed rumours of poisoning and insisted the crisis stemmed from the loss of routine. Omole noted that in London, doctors prescribed stronger supplements, which she discreetly added to his meals.
“After just three days, he threw away the stick he was walking with. After a week, he was receiving relatives. That was the genesis, and also the reversal of his sickness,” she recalled.
The biography also highlights Buhari’s reliance on UK hospitals, which critics said exposed Nigeria’s weak health system. Omole argued that a more compassionate view recognises that a man in his 70s required specialised care “not readily available in Nigeria after decades of underinvestment.”
Mrs Buhari further alleged surveillance within the Presidency, including bugging of Buhari’s office and playback of private conversations, which she claimed contributed to his decline. She also dismissed the long-standing rumour of a body double, “Jibril of Sudan,” as absurd, blaming poor government communication for fueling conspiracy theories.
