Revealed: What Buhari was really eating in Aso Rock

It is no longer news that the former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has died.

The announcement came late last night, stating that he passed away at a private hospital in London on July 13, 2025, after a brief illness. His death, unsurprisingly, has triggered mixed reactions across the country, ranging from prayers for his departed soul and celebration from frustrated citizens.

While some political allies and loyalists mourned him, many Nigerians, especially the youth, are openly celebrating having endured his two-term administration, largely marked by economic hardship, broken promises, and silence in times of crisis.

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Most of the criticism stems from his years in office, during which Nigeria slipped into two recessions and millions fell deeper into poverty. Yet, amid all this, Buhari's government maintained an alarmingly extravagant lifestyle within Aso Rock. The feeding budget for the presidency alone raised eyebrows every year.

Buhari ate good, or so it seems. In Buhari’s 2017 budget, ₦850 million was allocated for food, cooking gas, and kitchen utensils at Aso Rock:

• ₦100.8 million for kitchen utensils (forks, knives, etc.)

• ₦360 million for foodstuffs and catering materials

• ₦63 million for cooking gas

• ₦114.9 million for the president’s food alone

According to the report, this breakdown was part of the ₦42 billion total allocated to the State House. Analysts noted that the utensil budget alone could have built at least five health centres. Premium Times also reported that in just three years, the presidency spent over ₦420 million on catering equipment alone, excluding food and gas, a figure they said could have reversed malnutrition among children in IDP camps.

They were definitely cooking up a storm with that exorbitant amount. But, alas! a friend of the deceased president in an interview in 2015 said his best food was a simple meal. It wasn't steak or the most expensive meal in the world. It was a humble meal called tuwo alikama.

Alhaji Ahmed Babankowa, a retired police commissioner and close associate of Buhari for over four decades, said Buhari had a deep love for tuwo alikama (a wheat-based dish) served with various local soups like okra. Even while travelling, meals were pre-packed and stored in the convoy. His drink choices were also modest. Fanta, Coca-Cola, and water made up his beverage selection, no alcohol and no wine.

Despite the hardship many Nigerians faced during his time in office, Buhari, according to Babankowa, reportedly never missed his three square meals, but his simplicity did not stop Aso Rock from becoming a palace of excess.

Recently, Garba Shehu, Buhari’s former spokesperson, also attempted to paint a picture of modesty in his book Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience. He wrote that Buhari ate basic foods like:

• Tuwo (dough-like dishes made from grains)

• Pap

• Akara (bean cake), Beans

• Wheat

• Salads

• Poultry

• Mutton

According to him, Buhari once rejected a ₦10 million meal budget and demanded it be slashed. Despite enjoying the most carefully prepared and lavish meals, Nigerian leaders, including Buhari, continue to frequently fly abroad for medical treatment.

This wasteful pattern, unfortunately, continues with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. In his 2024 budget, Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima allocated ₦660.5 million for meals, amounting to ₦1.8 million daily. The president’s office alone will spend over ₦287 million on foodstuffs and another ₦33.6 million on “refreshments and meals.”

If tomorrow, Tinubu's spokesperson writes a book and claims his best food was agbado paired with ube, and that was most of what he ate in Aso Rock during his tenure, would you be surprised? While Buhari may have had simple tastes, the structure and operations of Aso Rock were anything but frugal. Whether Garba Shehu’s comments were true or not, we may never truly know.