Former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has passed a damning verdict on the eight-year tenure of her husband, the immediate past President, late Muhammadu Buhari.
In a book unveiled on Monday at the Banquet Hall of the State House, entitled ‘From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari”’, authored by Dr. Charles Omole, the former First Lady narrated how the former president was held captive by “a small court of elderly relatives and elites”, whom she further described as a “mafia of a certain kind, (with) native intelligence bent to private ends.”
In chapter 22 of the book, with a subtitle, ‘Revelations at Last after the Silence: Aisha Buhari’s Account of the Villa and the Men who fought a Presidency’, the author gave a gripping account of how those who laboured to ensure victory for Buhari in 2015 lost out in the power game at the State House with the mafia dictating who got what, when and how.
The First Lady’s predicament worsened in 2017, two years into the first tenure of the late President as the strong men who “cautioned the president that his wife’s ‘strong character’ would overshadow them if she were let in,” actually plotted to push her out of the Villa.
“In Aisha’s account, the house quickly filled with relatives and their wives and grandchildren, as well as courtiers and staff who learnt the shortcuts and shadows.
“They tried to push everybody out, including me,” she said.
“It is a blunt statement, and she knows it sounds blunt. But she stands firm on her boundaries: ‘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.’
“With most of her children living and studying abroad early in Buhari’s first term, extended family members filled the void and occupied houses across the Villa. And because of his fondness and attachment to his extended family and old friends, Buhari was vulnerable to all kinds of scheming and manipulations.
“Those who knew his weaknesses exploited them to the detriment of the lofty goals of his administration”.
