Garba Shehu, former Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, has admitted that the 2017 story about rats invading the Presidential Villa was fabricated to distract the public from Buhari’s health issues.
The revelation is detailed in Shehu’s new book, “According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience,” launched in Abuja on Tuesday.
In the book’s Chapter 10, titled “Rats, Spin and All That,” Shehu explained that following Buhari’s return from a lengthy medical trip to the UK in August 2017, there were widespread rumors and conspiracy theories most notably from IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu claiming the president had been replaced by a Sudanese clone.
When the presidency announced that Buhari would be working from home instead of his official office, speculation intensified about his ability to govern.
Shehu recalled that during a casual conversation among top officials, someone mentioned that rats might have damaged cables in the unused office. Seeing an opportunity to deflect from the president’s health status, Shehu told reporters that rodents had invaded the office, prompting renovations.
“The story took off,” Shehu said. “It even made BBC World News’ top five. Some believed it, others laughed, and many accused us of hiding the truth.”
As reporters pressed him for details, Shehu doubled down, referencing destructive rats from the 1980s rice shipments from Southeast Asia. However, not everyone in government supported the move.
“At a later meeting, both Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Information Minister Lai Mohammed disagreed with my approach,” Shehu wrote. “But I told them my goal was to shift the conversation away from Buhari’s health and in my view, it worked.”
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