Former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, has dismissed reports that he is planning to marry former First Lady, Aisha Buhari.
There have been speculations that the duo were set to tie the knot.
The rumour gained traction after a supposed wedding invitation card began circulating on social media.
The wedding invitation card suggested that the former minister and the widow of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari were set to wed.
The invitation, however, carried no wedding date or verifiable details.
However, speaking during an interview with PRNigeria, Pantami described the claim as false, baseless and completely impossible.
The former minister stated that he was shocked by the rumours, stressing that the late President Buhari was a father figure to him.
“Aisha Buhari is a mother to us. It is disturbing that such a story could be fabricated.
“President Buhari was like a father to us, and his wife is regarded as a mother. Such a claim is not only false but impossible,” Pantami said.
Pantami urged the public to ignore the report, warning against the spread of misinformation on social media platforms.
Meanwhile, Aisha Buhari has disclosed that relatives of her late husband, Muhammadu Buhari, along with their wives and grandchildren, attempted to take over the Aso Villa during his time in office.
She added that following his death, the excesses of such relatives could have continued, but were checked by the State’s management of the former President’s burial arrangements.
Buhari also revealed details about his final illness, insisting that he suffered from pneumonia, not the widely speculated cancer diagnoses of pulmonary lymphoma or leukaemia.
Her revelations are contained in From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari, a new biography authored by Dr Charles Omole.
The book, citing experts, identified poor strategic communication as one of the major weaknesses of the Buhari administration.
“Simple and banal developments were transformed into major conspiracies due to a lack of openness and effective communication,” the biography states.
Reflecting on the communication gaps, Aisha Buhari said, “Rumors would begin, and stories would take on a life of their own, with no clear strategic direction to the messaging. Nigerians did not know what to believe. This fog of communication persisted until the very end.”
After Buhari’s death, Aisha said, “Those who once held the levers of access, those old uncles and agile associates, felt that their power had vanished along with the principal. They feared her and her son.”
She insisted that neither she nor her son harboured any desire for vendetta, and credited the State’s involvement in managing the burial logistics with preventing further embarrassment
“The state’s management of the burial logistics both stabilised the ritual and limited opportunities for mischief,” she said.
She added, “We did not come to fight. The presidency’s tight control of arrangements denied the old courtiers room to manoeuvre or inject themselves into the choreography.”
Aisha Buhari described some of the courtiers as people “without capacity,” suitable, perhaps, as a local government chairman, she quipped, but not in the central circle of a national leader.