Former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has revealed that she resisted sustained attempts by a powerful cabal resident in Aso Villa to force her and her children out of the Presidential Villa.
She also disclosed that influential individuals exploited the fondness of her husband, former President Muhammadu Buhari, for his extended family and old friends to manipulate him, ultimately undermining the lofty objectives of his administration.
These revelations are contained in a biography titled “From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari”, authored by Charles Omole. The book was presented at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, with President Bola Tinubu and his wife, Oluremi Tinubu, in attendance.
According to the biography, Aisha Buhari offered what was described as her sharpest critique of a major weakness of the Buhari administration — the failure to decisively remove non-performing officials — while cautioning President Tinubu against repeating the same mistake.
The book states: “If the 2017 crisis began in a kitchen, its broader stage was the house where that kitchen was situated. Aso Villa is not merely a home, but an ecosystem. In Aisha’s account, 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 says.
“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.’”
The book further notes that with most of her children studying and living abroad early in Buhari’s first term, extended family members moved into various residences within the Villa. Because of Buhari’s emotional attachment to his relatives and long-time associates, the former president, according to Aisha, became vulnerable to manipulation.
“Those who knew his weaknesses exploited them to the detriment of the lofty goals of his administration,” the book added.
Aisha Buhari also alleged that relatives without official roles sought to influence access to the Villa, while long-time allies from Buhari’s years in opposition gradually disappeared. Familiar faces, she said, were “locked out,” with their names allegedly logged by security operatives and reported elsewhere.
“When she privately raised these concerns and saw no change, she spoke publicly,” the biography revealed.
She further argued that a combination of ageing, fear of public perception, and emotional manipulation by close aides prevented Buhari from enforcing performance standards. According to her, Buhari often felt sympathy for appointees struggling in office and feared being labeled a dictator if he removed them.
“If I remove him, they will say I am this and that,” she quoted Buhari as saying.
That fear, she said, gradually became a shield for mediocrity, with the familiar phrase “the devil you know” used to justify retaining underperforming officials despite stalled policy execution.
Aisha Buhari said her own principle was simple: if an official “eats” but delivers at least 50 per cent, tolerate him; if he “eats” and delivers nothing, remove him.
She added that the family later agreed Buhari’s reluctance to sack non-performers became a structural weakness of his administration, worsened by advisers and relatives who used flattery, emotional pressure, and delay tactics to evade accountability.
The former First Lady also recounted how security officials once advised her to temporarily leave Abuja for Daura to allow investigations into certain close associates to proceed unhindered — a suggestion she firmly rejected.
She claimed that shortly after, Buhari became emotionally withdrawn, speaking less and eating less.
Even after leaving office, Aisha Buhari said the former president privately appealed to President Tinubu not to probe some of his kinsmen, noting that he still depended on them for personal needs.
For her, the episode underscored the dangers of emotional dependence at the highest levels of power.