Fatima Buhari, daughter of late former Nigerian president , has alleged that her father’s signature was forged on official government documents while he was in office.
The allegation is contained in a new biography titled From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, written by . In the book, Fatima, who is a forensic auditor, said she personally reviewed several documents bearing what she described as fake signatures attributed to her father and brought them to his attention.
According to the account, Fatima noted that concerns about forged presidential signatures were not raised by her alone, as others within government circles had also expressed similar worries at the time. She reportedly told her father that some documents did not carry his authentic signature, an issue she said was not unique to his administration, as previous governments had faced similar problems.
The book further reveals that beyond forged signatures, there were instances where President Buhari’s speeches and official directives were altered after he had already approved them. One incident described occurred during an official trip to the United States, where Buhari was scheduled to speak at a small conference.
Fatima, who was present at the event, noticed her father hesitating while reading from the prepared text. After the event, she reportedly told him that his pauses were unusual. Buhari allegedly responded that the speech he was given was not the one he had approved, explaining that it had been altered. According to the book, this was not an isolated incident, and on that occasion, he abandoned the script and spoke in his own words.
The biography describes this pattern as a form of misrepresentation that the family gradually came to recognize. It recounts how official directives were sometimes diluted, rephrased, or modified as documents moved through layers of bureaucracy. While some changes were attributed to bureaucratic lapses, the book suggests that in other cases, they were the deliberate actions of a small clique within the system.
In another startling revelation, the book claims that Buhari believed his official residence at the State House was wiretapped. It states that he often avoided speaking openly in his office and instead communicated non-verbally with his daughter, sometimes writing messages on paper to avoid being overheard.
According to the author, some security chiefs who served under Buhari also confirmed that unusual objects were discovered in the president’s office and room during routine security sweeps, further fueling his concerns.
These revelations have sparked fresh conversations about internal power struggles, bureaucratic manipulation, and security concerns during Buhari’s presidency, adding a new layer of insight into the challenges he faced behind the scenes while in office.
