Buhari Appointed Wrong People to Powerful Positions, Former First Lady Spills
- Aisha Buhari said the Buhari presidency was constrained by a powerful inner circle that sidelined loyalists and weakened decision-making for eight years
- The former first lady recounted attempts to isolate her within the Presidential Villa and accused unelected actors of controlling access to the president
- She explained that her support for Bola Tinubu in 2023 was driven by power rotation concerns and his perceived electoral strength nationwide
Former First Lady Aisha Buhari has delivered a searing assessment of the eight-year presidency of her late husband, Muhammadu Buhari, saying his administration was crippled by the presence of the wrong actors in positions of influence and authority.
Her account was unveiled on Monday, December 15, at the Banquet Hall of the State House during the presentation of a new book titled From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, written by Dr Charles Omole.
Source: Twitter
According to Tribune, in the book, Aisha Buhari described a presidency constrained by a small inner circle made up of elderly relatives and political elites whom she portrayed as a tightly knit power bloc operating for private gain.
Buhari's presidency surrounded by insiders - Aisha
In chapter 22 of the book, titled Revelations at Last after the Silence: Aisha Buhari’s Account of the Villa and the Men who fought a Presidency, the former first lady narrated how individuals who worked for Buhari’s 2015 electoral victory were sidelined once power was secured.
Decision-making, she said, fell into the hands of a group that dictated access, appointments, and influence within the state house.
She recalled that tensions deepened by 2017 when senior figures around the president warned that her presence and personality posed a threat to their grip on power. According to her account, efforts were made to isolate her within the presidential villa.
“They tried to push everybody out, including me,” she said.
Aisha Buhari drew firm lines in her recollection of events, insisting that personal and official boundaries were deliberately blurred by those around her husband.
“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.”
Source: Twitter
Aisha narrated how Buhari was torpedoed
With most of her children living abroad early in Buhari’s first term, extended family members moved into the Villa and surrounding residences. She said this arrangement, combined with Buhari’s loyalty to relatives and long-time associates, made him vulnerable to manipulation.
She described a situation where access to the president was filtered by individuals with no formal roles. Allies from the years of political opposition were shut out. Campaign loyalists disappeared from the corridors of power. Names were allegedly flagged by security officials. Concerns raised privately, she said, produced no change.
The consequences were visible. Appointments defied expectations. Schedules became erratic. Trusted aides were excluded. Allegations of forged signatures circulated. Buhari’s aversion to being seen as authoritarian, she said, made him reluctant to remove underperforming aides.
“He had the wrong people in the right places,” she said.
“He didn’t change them for eight years.”
Aisha explains why she backed Tinubu in 2023
The book also shed light on Aisha Buhari’s political stance ahead of the 2023 presidential election. She openly backed Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the All Progressives Congress candidate, despite pressure from elements seeking a northern successor to Buhari.
Her reasoning was twofold. She cited the need for power rotation after eight years in the North and argued that national stability required a southern presidency.
She also relied on electoral calculations, asking northern governors which southern aspirant could win votes across the region.
Their answer, she said, was Tinubu.
She maintained that Buhari stayed out of the succession battle. “He has never,” she said. “He did not interfere to make anyone President.” She added that others around him pursued a different agenda.
Is it true that Buhari was poisoned
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Aisha Buhari, wife of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, had finally dispelled the rumour that someone poisoned the former president while in office, leading to his 154 days of medical leave outside the country in 2017.
The ex-first lady maintained that the health challenges of her husband began with a broken routine, and his nutrition was mismanaged.
Source: Legit.ng
