Former First Lady Aisha Buhari has revealed that her late husband, former President Muhammadu Buhari, experienced health challenges in 2017 largely due to a disrupted nutrition routine, not any malicious act, according to a newly published biography.
In the book From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, authored by Charles Omole, Aisha Buhari detailed how rumours and misinformation within the Presidential Villa briefly led her husband to mistrust those around him. She said this atmosphere of fear affected his daily habits, including locking his room and skipping meals.
Aisha Buhari explained that she had personally supervised Buhari’s meals and supplements for years, a regimen critical to managing his health given his history of nutritional challenges. “This is given his long history of nutritional challenges. Buhari’s illnesses were neither mysterious nor the result of poisoning,” she said.
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The biography notes that after Buhari relocated from Kaduna to the Presidential Villa, official handlers took over his feeding routine, resulting in skipped meals and missed supplements. Aisha Buhari said that for nearly a year, the late president did not eat lunch consistently, which significantly weakened him.
This, she added, contributed to his extended medical trips to the United Kingdom in 2017, totaling 154 days, during which Vice President Yemi Osinbajo temporarily assumed presidential duties.
Upon returning, Buhari admitted publicly that he had never been so ill and confirmed receiving blood transfusions during treatment abroad. Aisha Buhari dismissed circulating theories about poisoning or a body double, emphasizing that the root cause was the disrupted nutrition routine.
According to the book, Buhari’s recovery was swift once his dietary regimen was restored. Aisha Buhari also highlighted challenges within the Presidency, including alleged surveillance and monitoring of private conversations, which she said added to anxiety during his later years.
This account provides new insight into the factors behind Buhari illness 2017 and underscores the critical role of consistent care and nutrition in managing the health of public figures, according to the former first lady.