Inside Buhari’s ‘Other Room’ Story – Aisha

Inside Buhari’s ‘Other Room’ Story – Aisha

In a new biography, Aisha Buhari, widow of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, reveals that her husband began locking his bedroom door after rumors spread in Aso Rock that she intended to kill him.

“My husband believed them for a week or so,” she says, explaining that he altered his habits amid the gossip.

Her account appears in the 600-page biography, From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, written by Charles Omole, Director-General of the Institute for Police and Security Policy Research.

The book was launched at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, with President Bola Tinubu and other high-profile figures in attendance.

Aisha maintains that the health crisis Buhari faced in 2017 was not caused by poisoning or an unexplained illness, but by the breakdown of a strict nutritional regimen she had long supervised.

As quoted in the book: “According to Aisha Buhari, her husband’s 2017 health crisis did not originate as a mysterious ailment or a covert plot. It started, she says, with the loss of a routine; ‘my nutrition,’ she describes it, a pattern of meals and supplements she had long overseen in Kaduna before they moved into Aso Villa.”

After moving to the villa, she convened a meeting with close aides, including his physician, Suhayb Rafindadi; Chief Security Officer Bashir Abubakar; the housekeeper; and the DSS Director-General, to outline the daily care plan. However, the routine was later discontinued.

Aisha recalls: “When the Presidency’s machinery took over our private lives, I explained the plan: daily, at specific hours, cups and bowls with tailored vitamin powders and oil, a touch of protein here, a change to cereals there. Elderly bodies require gentle, consistent support.”

She continues: “Then came the gossip and the fearmongering. They said I wanted to kill him.” As a result, Buhari began locking his door, and “meals were delayed or missed; the supplements were stopped.” She adds pointedly: “For a year, he did not have lunch. They mismanaged his meals.”

Aisha denies any plot to poison her husband, stating that his decline began with the “loss of a routine, ‘my nutrition,’ was the genesis of the crisis.”

In 2017, Buhari spent over 150 days in the United Kingdom for medical treatment, raising concerns about his ability to govern. He returned to Nigeria on August 19 after one 103-day stay. The former president later died in a London clinic on July 13, 2025.

• Elon Musk Makes History with $638 Billion Net Worth
• Dangote Details $5M Swiss School Fees, Questions NMDPRA Boss, Farouk’s Wealth