According to a report by Arise News on July 1, 2025, Garba Shehu, the former Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, has said his former principal is currently broke but left office with his integrity unblemished.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday in Abuja during a media briefing ahead of the launch of his new book titled “According to The President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience”, Shehu stated that Buhari never took bribes while in office and maintains a clean record.
“Buhari is broke and does not have money,” Shehu said, adding, “Nobody can say they gave him a bribe. Since Buhari left office, no journalist has had cause to call me for reaction. I now sleep very well.”
Shehu, who served Buhari throughout his eight-year tenure, also addressed lingering public questions about Buhari’s academic certificate. He dismissed the controversy as a politically motivated narrative from the 2015 election cycle.
“The allegation over his certificate was purely political,” Shehu explained. “Buhari was military secretary; his records were intact. Government College, Katsina was burnt, and some officers were punished for allowing politicians access to records. But the matter was long resolved,” he added.
He further attributed Buhari’s media silence to his personality, saying the former president was “not a showman” and preferred his actions to speak for him. He noted Buhari was an avid reader who consumed newspapers daily but avoided unnecessary media appearances.
The forthcoming 260-page book chronicles Shehu’s years in the corridors of power, first as spokesman to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar under President Olusegun Obasanjo, and later during the tense years of Buhari’s presidency. The book promises insight into presidential communication, political power struggles, and his own ordeal—including detention by the DSS and time in Kuje prison during the Obasanjo-Atiku fallout.
Shehu said the book offers lessons for journalists, politicians, and public communicators on how to navigate media, politics, and legal systems.
“History will judge Buhari,” Shehu said. “People will eventually see that he did his best, particularly on security. Boko Haram was his biggest challenge. The farmer-herder crisis predates him. Some governors didn’t trust him, but he gave it his best,” he added.
