Former National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, has revealed that some funds approved by former President Muhammadu Buhari for his office were deliberately withheld by powerful interests within the Presidency.
Monguno, who served as NSA from 2015 to 2023, made the disclosure in a new book titled From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari.
The biography of the late president was written by Charles Omole and launched at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
In the book, Monguno explained that the funding problem started after he acted on intelligence from the Commander of the Presidential Air Fleet.
He said the commander warned that the company supplying fuel to the fleet was under investigation, which could pose a security risk if the firm was eventually indicted.
Based on that advice, Monguno said he wrote to Buhari and recommended changing the supplier. According to him, the president agreed and approved the decision.
However, he said the move exposed “entrenched interests” within the Presidency.
Monguno alleged that the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, was the first to confront him over the decision, asking, “Why did you do this?”
He added that Buhari’s nephew, Mamman Daura, was also unhappy and felt the decision was unfair to the fuel supplier.
He further claimed that the Minister of Finance was used to frustrate his office financially.
“The Minister of Finance, who owed loyalty to Mamman Daura, was co-opted to withhold funds from the NSA office even after Buhari’s approval. Buhari and Nigerians were both victims of the Cabal that enriched itself beyond measure,” Monguno said.
According to him, denying the NSA office funds badly damaged Nigeria’s security system.
He said money left by his predecessor had run out, while subscriptions for key security systems and partnerships with foreign agencies expired.
Monguno added that surveillance equipment around the Presidential Villa depended on the NSA’s budget, but approvals to maintain and upgrade it were repeatedly delayed.
He also said that even when Buhari approved certain appointments, a “counter-note from a gatekeeper” was sometimes used to cancel the decision.
“You do not need a conspiracy to weaken a system; you only need petty sabotage repeated often enough,” he said.
The book also contains claims by former First Lady, Aisha Buhari, about her own experiences in Aso Rock.
She said rumours within the Villa once made her husband suspect she wanted to harm him, which disrupted his feeding routine and contributed to the illness that kept him out of office for months in 2017.
According to her, gossip created temporary mistrust between them, leading Buhari to change his habits, including locking his room and skipping meals.
“This is given his long history of nutritional challenges. Buhari’s illnesses were neither mysterious nor the result of poisoning,” she said.
The book added that after Buhari moved from Kaduna to the Presidential Villa, responsibility for his diet shifted to official handlers, resulting in missed meals and suspended supplements.
Aisha Buhari said this weakened him significantly and marked the beginning of his health struggles.
She also alleged that mistrust within the Presidency included surveillance and the bugging of private conversations added to anxiety during Buhari’s final years.
