Aisha Buhari Reveals Late Husband Believed Poison Plot Gossip

Former First Lady Aisha Buhari disclosed that her husband, the late President Muhammadu Buhari, once believed rumours circulating in Aso Rock that she planned to kill him. The gossip led him to lock his room and alter habits for about a week. These revelations appear in the new biography *From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari*, launched in Abuja.

Aisha explained that Buhari’s serious health crisis in 2017 stemmed from disrupted nutrition routines, not poisoning or chronic illness. She had long managed his meals and supplements in Kaduna, tailoring them for his slender build and history of malnutrition symptoms. “Elderly bodies require gentle, consistent support,” she noted, describing daily vitamin powders, oils, proteins, and cereals.

After moving to Aso Villa, the routine broke down amid mistrust. Gossip claimed she wanted to poison him, and Buhari briefly believed it. Meals delayed or skipped, supplements stopped, and for a year he skipped lunch entirely. Staff mismanaged his feeding, worsening his condition.

Aisha convened key aides, including physician Suhayb Rafindadi and chief security officer Bashir Abubakar, to clarify the plan. In London during treatment, she secretly added prescribed supplements to his juice and oats. Within three days, he discarded his walking stick; after a week, he received visitors. “That was the genesis, and also the reversal of his sickness,” she said.

The book also addresses surveillance in the President’s office, with listening devices playing back private talks, fostering fear that hastened his decline. Aisha dismissed absurd rumours of a body double, known as “Jibril of Sudan,” blaming poor government communication for fueling conspiracies.

Buhari’s 2017 absences totaled 154 days in the UK, where he received blood transfusions and described himself as never so ill. The biography, authored by Dr. Charles Omole, covers his life from Daura origins to his final hours in a London hospital in mid-July 2025.

These intimate details expose the strains of power on personal lives, highlighting how fear and disrupted care impacted a leader’s health amid relentless speculation.