Abuja, Nigeria — Garba Shehu, former Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, has revealed that the infamous story about rats invading the Presidential Villa in 2017 was a calculated fabrication intended to distract the public from growing concerns over Buhari’s health.
In his newly launched book, According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience, presented on Tuesday in Abuja, Shehu detailed the behind-the-scenes decision-making that led to the now-viral narrative.
The incident unfolded shortly after President Buhari returned to Nigeria on August 19, 2017, following nearly three months of medical treatment in the United Kingdom. Amid heightened public scrutiny and conspiracy theories—including claims by IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu that Buhari had died and been replaced by a Sudanese clone named Jibrin—the presidency announced that Buhari would be working from home, further fueling speculation about his health and ability to govern.
In Chapter 10 of the book, titled Rats, Spin and All That, Shehu recounted a conversation in the Chief of Staff’s office, where some officials speculated that rodents may have damaged cables in the president’s office due to its prolonged disuse.
“When the surge in calls for explanation of why the president would be working from home 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,” Shehu wrote.
The story quickly caught fire, making headlines globally and even appearing among the BBC World News bulletin’s top five stories at the time. The media frenzy intensified as local and international journalists demanded more details about the supposed rodent invasion.
“To get them off my back, I referred them to the strange rats that invaded the country in the 1980s during the rice armada from Southeast Asia,” Shehu added. “Some people laughed, others were skeptical, but the narrative dominated headlines, which was the goal.”
Shehu disclosed that the strategy did not go unchallenged. He was later questioned by then Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
“At a later meeting, both Lai Mohammed and Vice President Osinbajo asked me why I pushed that line. I told them it was deliberate—to shift national discourse away from the president’s health. In my view, the spin worked, but they both disagreed.”
The revelation sheds new light on the inner workings of Buhari’s media strategy during one of the most turbulent periods of his presidency, raising fresh questions about the use of political “spin” in managing public perception.
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