• Hausa Edition
  • Podcast
  • Conferences
  • LeVogue Magazine
  • Business News
  • Print Advert Rates
  • Online Advert Rates
  • Contact Us
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Leadership Newspapers
Read in Hausa
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Leadership Newspapers
No Result
View All Result

Aso Rock Rats Invasion Story Meant To Deflect Buhari’s Illness – Garba Shehu

by Bode Gbadebo
2 months ago
in News
Aso Rock Rats Invasion Story Meant To Deflect Buhari’s Illness
Share on WhatsAppShare on FacebookShare on XTelegram

Former Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to former President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, has admitted that the widely reported story about rats invading the Presidential Villa in 2017 was a fabrication intended to divert public attention from Buhari’s ill-health at the time.

Advertisement

In his recently unveiled book, ‘According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience’, which was launched on Tuesday in Abuja, Shehu revealed that the story was a deliberate “spin” to shift focus away from the mounting speculation about the president’s medical condition and ability to govern.

The incident followed Buhari’s return to Nigeria on August 19, 2017, after nearly three months of medical treatment in the United Kingdom.

At the time, the Presidency had announced that Buhari would be working from home rather than his office at the State House, a move that further stirred public doubt.

The situation was already tense, as Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), had claimed that Buhari had died and was replaced by a clone named Jibrin of Sudan.

RELATED

30 Children Abducted In Katsina

Gunmen Kill 8, Injure Others In Kaduna

1 minute ago
CBN Reassures Public On Bank Deposit Safety, Dismisses Licence Revocation Fears

CBN To Curb PoS Fraud, Orders Geo-tagging Of Devices

6 minutes ago
ADVERTISEMENT

In Chapter 10 of the book, titled ‘Rats, Spin and All That#, Shehu recounted the events that led to the creation of the story.

“So in the few hours of the president’s return, I picked up a conversation in the office of the CoS, where the chief, a few principal officers and the permanent secretary sat over lunch, a damage to a cable was noticed and it needed fixing,” he wrote.

“Someone speculated that rats may have caused that damage, given that the office was unused for a long time.

ADVERTISEMENT

“When the surge in calls for explanation of why the president would be working from home, if truly he had recovered his health and fit for the office came, I said to the reporters that the office, which had been in disuse, needed renovation because rats may have eaten and damaged some cables.”

According to Shehu, the story quickly went viral, even making it into the BBC World News bulletin’s top five stories. He said the media frenzy intensified with journalists, including BBC Hausa Service, pressing for more details about the invasive rodents.

“To get them (journalists) off my back, I referred them to the strange rats that invaded the country in the 1980s during the rice armada that came here aboard ships bringing the commodity from Southeast Asia,” he wrote.

“As was known of them, in their destructiveness, those rats ate just anything anyone could imagine. Many critics disagreed with me, saying that we were covering up the president’s ill health. Some people had a good laugh over the narrative, and an insignificant few believed me.”

Shehu also recalled being questioned about the narrative by then Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

“At a later meeting, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo asked me why I had toed that line of story,” he wrote.

“I said to them that the choice I made was deliberate: I wanted the discussion to shift, to move to any other issue besides the president’s health and his ability to continue in office as the leader of the country. In my view, that spin succeeded. Both of them disagreed, saying that this was well off the mark.”


Join Our WhatsApp Channel

Nigerians can now earn US Dollars monthly by acquiring domains cheaply and reselling for profits up to $18,000 (nearly ₦30Million). Beneficiaries include professionals, entrepreneurs, civil servants and more. Click here to start.


Tags: Aso rockMuhammadu Buhari
SendShare10180Tweet6362Share
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

After Supreme Court Victory, Okpebholo Vows To Probe Obaseki

Next Post

Liverpool To Retire Number 20 Jersey In Honour Of Diogo Jota

Bode Gbadebo

Bode Gbadebo

You May Like

30 Children Abducted In Katsina
News

Gunmen Kill 8, Injure Others In Kaduna

2025/08/27
CBN Reassures Public On Bank Deposit Safety, Dismisses Licence Revocation Fears
Cover Stories

CBN To Curb PoS Fraud, Orders Geo-tagging Of Devices

2025/08/27
Wike Denies Allegations Of Land Allocation To Son
News

FCTA Promotes 49 Deputy Directors

2025/08/27
Naira Swap: Kwara Police To Patrol Bank Areas, Warns Hoodlums
News

Kwara: Kidnap Victims Escape As Security Forces Raid Criminals’ Hideouts

2025/08/26
JUST-IN: Osun Gov’t May Sack Monarch Jailed In US For $4.2m COVID-19 Fraud
News

JUST-IN: Osun Gov’t May Sack Monarch Jailed In US For $4.2m COVID-19 Fraud

2025/08/26
Otu, Ekpeyong, Speaker, Eulogise Late Music Icon, Duke At Funeral
News

Tinubu Celebrates Senator Ekpenyong At 40

2025/08/26
Leadership Conference advertisement

LATEST

Gunmen Kill 8, Injure Others In Kaduna

CBN To Curb PoS Fraud, Orders Geo-tagging Of Devices

FCTA Promotes 49 Deputy Directors

Kwara: Kidnap Victims Escape As Security Forces Raid Criminals’ Hideouts

JUST-IN: Osun Gov’t May Sack Monarch Jailed In US For $4.2m COVID-19 Fraud

Tinubu Celebrates Senator Ekpenyong At 40

Fresh FM Inferno: Ayefele Responds To ‘No Insurance’ Claims

Court Orders Banks To Produce Activist Sowore’s Account Transactions

Reps To Probe UNIBEN Teaching Hospital’s Budgetary Expenditures

C’Wealth Weightlifting: Omolola Wins Team Nigeria’s First Gold In India

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.