The former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has revealed how her husband, Muhammadu Buhari’s relatives, their wives and grandchildren took over Aso Villa, but their intrusion was stopped by the State’s management of his burial.
She also said revealed the challenges of the former president’s last days, adding that pneumonia was her late husband’s ailment, and not the widely-publicised cancer – pulmonary lymphoma and/or leukemia.
Aisha’s revelations are in the book “From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari,” authored by Dr. Charles Omole.
A govt’s poor communication
The book, quoting experts, identified poor strategic communication as one of the Buhari government’s weaknesses.
“Simple and banal developments were transformed into major conspiracies due to a lack of openness and effective communication,” it states.
Aisha added: “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, she 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.”
Aisha stated that neither had the desire or inclination for vendetta. The state’s takeover of her husband’s burial programme, she added, saved another round of embarrassment.
“The state’s management of the burial logistics both stabilized the ritual and limited opportunities for mischief,” she said.
I understand Buhari's diet, but cabal said I wanted to poison him - Aisha
She and her son “did not come to fight. The presidency’s tight control of arrangements denied the old courtiers room to maneuver or inject themselves into the choreography.”
She calls them people “without capacity,” men she could work with “as a local government chairman,” perhaps, but not as a president’s core.
Aisha said if the 2017 crisis began in a kitchen, its broader stage was the house where that kitchen was situated.
According to her: “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.”
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,” Aisha narrated.