Former presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu has admitted that the 2017 story of rats invading President Muhammadu Buhari’s office was deliberately planted to distract the public from deepening concerns over the president’s health.
The disclosure is detailed in Shehu’s newly released memoir, According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience”;, which was launched on Tuesday in Abuja.
In a chapter pointedly titled “Rats, Spin and All That,”; Shehu recounts how the curious story became a tool to deflect attention at a politically sensitive moment.
Buhari had just returned to Nigeria on August 19, 2017, after a lengthy medical stay in the UK. The atmosphere was tense, with citizens demanding clarity about the president’s health. When it was announced that he would continue working from home instead of returning to his office at the Aso Villa, speculation surged. Conspiracy theories, including the infamous “Jibrin from Sudan”; narrative pushed by IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, only added fuel to the fire.
It was against this backdrop that the now-infamous “rat story”; emerged, he revealed.
Shehu recalled how it happened almost offhandedly, during a routine chat in the Chief of Staff’s office about a faulty cable. The room hadn’t been used in months. Someone joked that perhaps rats had damaged the wiring.
“Shehu said, ‘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.’”;
It was a calculated move, Shehu confessed, adding that the statement wasn’t rooted in any verified report — it was spin.
He added, “To get them off my back, I referred them to the strange rats that invaded the country in the 1980s during the rice armada... Many critics disagreed with me, saying that we were covering up the president’s ill health. Some people had a good laugh... and an insignificant few believed me.”;
And it worked — at least temporarily. The image of rats evicting a sitting president from his office made international headlines. The BBC and other major outlets ran with it, unintentionally helping to change the conversation.
Shehu admits the move wasn’t universally welcomed. Inside the presidency, not everyone appreciated the stunt.
“Both of them disagreed, saying that this was well off the mark,”; he wrote, referring to then Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who reportedly challenged the authenticity of the claim.
“I wanted the discussion to shift, to move to any other issue besides the president’s health and his ability to continue in office.”;
