Former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has disclosed that relatives of her late husband, Muhammadu Buhari, along with their wives and grandchildren, attempted to take over the Aso Villa during his time in office.
She added that following his death, the excesses of such relatives could have continued but was checked by the State’s management of the former president’s burial arrangements.
Mrs Buhari also revealed details about Buhari’s final illness, insisting that he suffered from pneumonia, not the widely speculated cancer diagnoses of pulmonary lymphoma or leukaemia.
Her revelations are contained in From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, a new biography authored by Dr Charles Omole.
The book, citing experts, identified poor strategic communication as one of the major weaknesses of the Buhari administration.
“Simple and banal developments were transformed into major conspiracies due to a lack of openness and effective communication,” the biography states.
Reflecting on the communication gaps, Aisha Buhari said, “Rumors would begin, and stories would take on a life of their own, with no clear strategic direction to the messaging. Nigerians did not know what to believe. This fog of communication persisted until the very end.”
After Buhari’s death, Aisha said, “Those who once held the levers of access, those old uncles and agile associates, felt that their power had vanished along with the principal. They feared her and her son.”
She insisted that neither she nor her son harboured any desire for vendetta, and credited the State’s involvement in managing the burial logistics with preventing further embarrassment.
“The state’s management of the burial logistics both stabilised the ritual and limited opportunities for mischief,” she said.
She added, “We did not come to fight. The presidency’s tight control of arrangements denied the old courtiers room to manoeuvre or inject themselves into the choreography.”
Aisha Buhari described some of the courtiers as people “without capacity,” suitable, perhaps, as a local government chairman, she quipped, but not in the central circle of a national leader.
She painted a vivid picture of life inside Aso Villa in Buhari’s final days, saying, “Aso Villa is not merely a home but an ecosystem. The house quickly filled with relatives and their wives and grandchildren, as well as courtiers and staff who learned the shortcuts and shadows. They tried to push everybody out, including me.”
Aisha Buhari made clear her stance on the Villa’s internal power dynamics.
She concluded, “This is my house. You can live wherever you like. But you cannot be in charge of my husband’s office and then also be in charge of me, his wife, inside my house.”