From ‘Poison Plot’ to ‘Jibril of Sudan’: Aisha Buhari Breaks Silence on Rumours, Illness, and Mistrust in the Buhari Years

By Franklin Adole
Former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has opened up on the atmosphere of suspicion, gossip, and internal dislocation that marked the presidency of her late husband, Muhammadu Buhari, revealing that rumours she planned to poison him once led the former President to lock his bedroom door in Aso Rock.

Her account, contained in a new 600-page biography, From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, authored by Dr. Charles Omole and launched at the State House on Monday, offers an intimate narrative of the health crisis that kept Buhari out of the country for 154 days in 2017 and fuelled widespread speculation about his capacity to govern.

According to Mrs. Buhari, the illness that forced her husband to embark on two prolonged medical trips to the United Kingdom did not result from poisoning or any mysterious ailment, but from a breakdown in a carefully managed feeding and nutrition routine she had long supervised.

The 22-chapter biography traces Buhari’s life from his childhood in Daura, Katsina State, to his final hours in a London hospital in mid-July 2025. A central thread in the book is the former First Lady’s insistence that her husband’s health crisis was avoidable.

Mrs. Buhari recalled that Buhari, whom she described as “a slender man with a long history of malnutrition symptoms,” depended on a strict schedule of meals and supplements to remain stable.
“Elderly bodies require gentle, consistent support,” she said, stressing that Buhari had no chronic illness as long as his routine was maintained.

According to the book, she had overseen this regimen for years in Kaduna, before the family moved into the Presidential Villa. It involved meals taken at specific hours, with carefully measured vitamin powders, oils, cereals, and protein supplements.

Upon assuming office, Mrs. Buhari said she convened a meeting with key personnel, including the President’s physician, Dr. Suhayb Rafindadi; Chief Security Officer, Bashir Abubakar; the housekeeper; and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, to explain the feeding plan.

However, the routine soon collapsed.

“Then came the gossip and the fear-mongering. They said I wanted to kill him,” the book quoted her as saying.

She disclosed that Buhari believed the rumours for about a week, during which he began locking his room and altering long-standing habits. Meals were delayed or skipped entirely, while supplements were discontinued.

“For a year, he did not have lunch,” she said bluntly. “They mismanaged his meals.”

The result, according to Omole’s account, was a steady physical deterioration that culminated in Buhari’s extended medical absences in 2017, during which Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was formally empowered to act as President.

On his return, Buhari admitted publicly that he had “never been so ill” and had required blood transfusions.

Omole noted that the prolonged absences triggered intense rumours, conspiracy theories, and public anxiety, including claims that the President had been poisoned or replaced by a body double, popularly dubbed “Jibril of Sudan.”

Mrs. Buhari firmly dismissed both claims. She insisted that the true cause of the crisis was the loss of what she repeatedly described as “my nutrition” — the structured feeding routine that had sustained her husband for years.

In London, doctors reportedly prescribed an even more robust supplement regime. Initially, Buhari was fearful and reluctant to take them, but Mrs. Buhari said she took personal charge, discreetly mixing the hospital-issued supplements into his juice and oats.

The improvement, she said, was dramatic.

“After just three days, he threw away the stick he was walking with. After a week, he was receiving relatives,” she recalled, describing the episode as both “the genesis and the reversal” of his illness.

While critics cited Buhari’s dependence on UK hospitals as evidence of Nigeria’s failing health system, Omole argued for a “more compassionate perspective,” noting that a man in his 70s, after decades of underinvestment in healthcare, might require specialised treatment unavailable locally.

He also highlighted Buhari’s consistent practice of transferring power to his deputy during medical absences as evidence of respect for institutional order.

Beyond health issues, the book paints a portrait of deep mistrust within the Presidency. Mrs. Buhari alleged that the President’s office was bugged, private conversations recorded and replayed, and that a climate of fear and suspicion pervaded the inner circle.

She suggested that this atmosphere, driven by intrigue, contributed to shortening his life.

On the persistent “Jibril of Sudan” narrative, Mrs. Buhari was unequivocal, dismissing it as absurd and blaming poor strategic communication by the government for allowing “simple, banal developments” to spiral into damaging conspiracies.

Her testimony, as captured in the biography, offers a rare and personal window into the private struggles, rumours, and dysfunction that shaped the Buhari presidency: from whispers of poisoning to myths of body doubles, and how, she insists, mismanaged care, not mystery, nearly cost her husband his life.