By: Fabian Apechihin

Former First Lady Aisha Buhari has revealed that rumours within Aso Rock claiming she wanted to kill her husband, Muhammadu Buhari, played a major role in the health crisis that forced him to take a prolonged medical leave in 2017.

According to her, the gossip disrupted Buhari’s strict feeding and nutrition routine, ultimately contributing to the illness that kept him away from office for 154 days that year. She stressed that Buhari’s condition was neither mysterious nor the result of poisoning.

Aisha’s account is contained in a new biography, From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, written by Charles Omole and launched on Monday at the State House. The 600-page book traces Buhari’s life from his childhood in Daura, Katsina State, to his death in a London hospital in July 2025.

The book reveals that Aisha personally supervised Buhari’s meals and supplements at fixed times, a routine she said was vital for “a slender man with a long history of malnutrition symptoms.” She recalled advising those around him: “Elderly bodies require gentle, consistent support. He doesn’t have a chronic illness. Keep him on schedule.”

According to the biography, Aisha convened a meeting with key aides, including Buhari’s physician, Dr Suhayb Rafindadi, his chief security officer, Bashir Abubakar, the housekeeper, and the Director-General of the DSS, to establish a structured feeding plan.

She explained that the routine involved “daily, at specific hours, cups and bowls with tailored vitamin powders and oils, a touch of protein here, a change to cereals there.”

However, the system eventually collapsed.

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

Aisha said Buhari believed the rumours for about a week, began locking his room, altered his habits, skipped meals and stopped taking his supplements.

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

This decline, the book noted, culminated in Buhari’s extended medical trips to the United Kingdom in 2017, during which he transferred power to then Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo. Omole added that Buhari later admitted he had “never been so ill” and required blood transfusions during that period.

Aisha firmly dismissed claims that her husband was poisoned, insisting that the real cause was the breakdown of his nutrition routine. “Loss of a routine, ‘my nutrition,’ was the genesis of the crisis,” she said.

She disclosed that doctors in London prescribed a stricter nutritional plan, which Buhari initially resisted, prompting her to personally take charge of administering his supplements by adding them to his meals.

“After just three days, he threw away the stick he was walking with. After a week, he was receiving relatives,” she recalled.

The author also noted that Buhari’s medical absences fuelled rumours and conspiracy theories, including claims that he had been replaced by a body double known as “Jibril of Sudan.” Aisha dismissed the allegations as absurd, blaming poor communication for allowing “banal developments to metastasise into conspiracies.”

She further alleged that deep mistrust within the presidency, including fears of surveillance and claims that Buhari’s office was bugged, added to the pressure and anxiety that marked his final years in office.

By: Fabian Apechihin

Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has criticised Nigeria’s worsening youth unemployment, calling it a glaring failure of leadership. He cited a recent ActionAid/Plan International report estimating that over 80 million young Nigerians are currently without jobs.

Speaking on Tuesday, Obi noted that Nigeria now has the highest absolute number of unemployed youths in the world, a situation he attributes to poor economic management amid the country’s large population. He contrasted this with South Africa, where youth unemployment stands at around 60 per cent—roughly six million young people, still more than 70 million fewer than in Nigeria.

Obi argued that youth unemployment is not just a challenge for the young but a reflection of decades of mismanagement, political greed, and misplaced priorities. With approximately 75 per cent of Nigerians under the age of 35, he described the situation as a national emergency.

Instead of investing in youths as productive assets or supporting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to drive growth, successive governments, he said, have engaged in wasteful spending, corruption, unproductive borrowing, and policies that deepen poverty.

“Nigeria does not lack entrepreneurial and resourceful youths. What we lack are leaders who are intentional about creating opportunities through deliberate investments in production and prudent, transparent, people-centred governance,” Obi said.

He emphasised that meaningful job creation requires leadership that recognises youths as the engine of national productivity and growth. Obi also urged young Nigerians to participate actively in politics, to elect leaders who genuinely represent their interests and the country’s future.

“Nigeria deserves competent, credible, compassionate, and capable leadership, one that will create opportunities and empower our young people,” he concluded.

By: Fabian Apechihin

Nigeria’s chances of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup have received a fresh boost amid a developing controversy involving DR Congo. According to NFF officials, the Congolese Football Federation may face sanctions over what is being described as irregularities in player eligibility.

“Our concern is that FIFA was misled into clearing them. FIFA acts based on submitted information; enforcing Congo’s domestic regulations is not their responsibility. The process appears fraudulent,” NFF spokesperson Sanusi explained.

The situation has reignited hope among Nigerian fans, who have not seen the Super Eagles at a World Cup since 2018 and narrowly missed the 2022 tournament in Qatar. A failure to qualify for 2026 would have marked consecutive absences for Africa’s most populous nation.

For DR Congo, the controversy threatens what could have been a landmark return to the global stage. The country has only previously appeared at the World Cup once, in 1974, under the name Zaire.

As the Nigerian Football Federation awaits FIFA’s response, the Super Eagles’ 2026 World Cup dream, once in doubt, now hangs in the balance, offering a renewed sense of optimism for supporters.