In a stunning and candid revelation, former First Lady Aisha Buhari has painted a picture of an administration hamstrung by the wrong people in positions of power throughout the eight-year tenure of her late husband, President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Villa Power Bloc and Sidelined Loyalists
Her account was presented on Monday, December 15, 2025, at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja during the unveiling of a new book, From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, authored by Dr. Charles Omole. Aisha Buhari described a presidency constrained by a small, powerful inner circle composed of elderly relatives and political elites.
She portrayed this group as a tightly knit bloc that operated for private gain, effectively seizing control of decision-making. According to her, individuals who were instrumental in securing Buhari's historic 2015 electoral victory were systematically sidelined once he assumed office.
Access to the president, key appointments, and influence within the State House were dictated by this unelected group. By 2017, tensions had escalated to the point where senior figures around President Buhari allegedly warned that Aisha's presence and personality threatened their grip on power, leading to efforts to isolate her within the Presidential Villa.
A Presidency Vulnerable to Manipulation
Aisha Buhari explained that her husband's deep loyalty to relatives and long-time associates made him vulnerable to manipulation. With most of their children living abroad early in his first term, extended family members moved into the Villa and surrounding residences, blurring personal and official boundaries.
She recalled a situation where access to the president was filtered by individuals with no formal government roles. Campaign loyalists and allies from the opposition years vanished from the corridors of power, and names were allegedly flagged by security officials to block access. Her private concerns, she said, produced no change in the situation.
The visible consequences, as she listed them, were significant:
- Appointments that defied public expectations and political logic.
- Erratic presidential schedules.
- The exclusion of trusted aides.
- Circulating allegations of forged signatures on official documents.
Aisha Buhari stated that President Buhari's aversion to being seen as authoritarian made him reluctant to remove underperforming aides. "He had the wrong people in the right places," she asserted. "He didn't change them for eight years."
Why Aisha Buhari Backed Bola Tinubu in 2023
The former First Lady also shed light on her political stance ahead of the 2023 presidential election. She revealed that she openly backed Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, despite pressure from elements seeking a northern successor to Buhari.
Her reasoning was twofold. First, she cited the established principle of power rotation to the South after eight years of a northern presidency, arguing it was crucial for national stability. Second, she relied on hard electoral calculations, consulting northern governors on which southern aspirant could win votes across the northern region. Their unanimous answer, she said, was Tinubu.
She maintained that President Buhari himself stayed out of the succession battle. "He has never," she said of his interference. "He did not interfere to make anyone President." She added that others around him pursued a different agenda.
Additionally, Aisha Buhari used the platform to finally dispel the long-standing rumor that her husband was poisoned during his 154-day medical leave in 2017. She clarified that his health challenges began with a broken routine and mismanaged nutrition, not poisoning.
