Former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has opened up on a painful chapter in her marriage to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, revealing how rumours within Aso Rock briefly drove a wedge of fear between them and disrupted his health routine.
According to her, false claims circulating inside the Presidential Villa suggested she was plotting to poison the President -- allegations that Buhari momentarily believed, leading him to change his daily habits and restrict access to his meals.
The revelation is contained in a newly released biography titled: " _From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari_ ", authored by Dr. Charles Omole and unveiled on Monday at the State House, Abuja.
Mrs. Buhari explained in the book that her husband's major health crisis in 2017, which forced him to spend 154 days receiving treatment in the United Kingdom, was not caused by poisoning or any mysterious ailment, as widely speculated at the time. Instead, she said it stemmed from prolonged disruption to his carefully managed diet and supplement regimen.
For years, she had personally overseen Buhari's nutrition, tailoring his meals and supplements to support his health.
"Then came the gossip and the fearmongering. They said I wanted to kill him," the book quotes her as saying.
"My husband believed them for a week or so," she disclosed, noting that Buhari began locking his room and adjusting his routines. More critically, she added, "meals were delayed or missed; the supplements were stopped."
She further revealed the extent of the disruption, saying, "For a year, he did not have lunch. They mismanaged his meals."
Mrs. Buhari stressed that once proper nutrition and supplementation were restored during his treatment in London, the President's health improved rapidly.
"She noted that Buhari discarded his walking stick after just three days of resuming his supplements," the biography recounts.
Beyond the health scare, the book also sheds light on deep mistrust within the Presidential Villa at the time, including claims of surveillance and conspiracy theories -- among them the widely debunked "Jibril of Sudan" body double rumour.
Spanning 22 chapters, the 600-page biography chronicles Buhari's journey from his early years 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.