Why Buhari chose me as minister in 2015 – Lai Mohammed
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Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that his journey to ministerial appointment by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 was not the result of a single moment, but of years of trust, shared convictions, loyalty, and service.
Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture for almost eight years, during Buhari’s administration, disclosed this in his book, “Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments that Defined an Administration.
The book, which launched in Abuja on Dec. 17, 2025, to coincide with what would have been Buhari’s 83rd birthday, chronicled his experiences as minister under the late President’s administration.
Mohammed recalled that after Buhari’s inauguration on May 29, 2015, it took a while before he named his cabinet.
He, however, said that because of the trust and confidence reposed in him, Buhari personally appointed him to the Ahmed Joda-led Transition Committee in April 2015, after the members had been named.
The committee was mandated to liaise with the then outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in reviewing handover notes and preparing a blueprint for the incoming government.
Mohammed detailed the telephone conversation between him and the late President on how he was appointed to the transition committee.
“Hello, the voice on the line said, “Is this Alhaji Lai Mohammed?” I answered in the affirmative. “Hold on for Mr President,” the voice said.
“Then another voice, apparently that of the President-elect, came in on the line and asked: Lai, where are you?
“Your Excellency, I am in Lagos. “What are you doing in Lagos?” he asked, I live in Lagos, Your Excellency.
“He then went straight to the reason for the call. “Are you not coming to the inaugural meeting of the Transition Committee in Abuja tomorrow?
“I replied, Your Excellency, I am not a member of the committee. He then said, Ok, Tunde (Sabiu, his longtime Personal Assistant) will call you, and he hung up.
“Within the hour, I received a call from Tunde, who asked where he should deliver the letter appointing me to the transition committee,” he narrated in the book.
Mohammed said that when the committee was first named, and he was omitted, he did not feel left out or slighted, but happy that they had won the elections.
According to him, Buhari’s action of personally appointing him to the committee marked the beginning of a very cordial and special relationship that existed between them until the former President’s death on July 13, 2025.
Mohammed also recalled that a few days before Buhari’s 100 days in office, he received a call from a very close confidant of the President, requesting him to come and assist the spokesperson ahead of the landmark celebration.
He recalled that at that time, Buhari was yet to name his Ministers but had made some appointments, including those of Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu as his spokespersons.
“I did not need a soothsayer to tell me that the call was a further indication of the President’s confidence in me.
“The same confidant told me on another occasion that if there was anyone the President was very sure would make his cabinet and whose portfolio he was already sure of- that person was me,” he wrote.
Mohammed said that the relationship between him and Buhari dated back to 2012, when he wrote to the late President through Mallam Nasir el-Rufai to request that he write the foreword to his first book, “Witness to History”.
He said Buhari graciously agreed, wrote the foreword and attended the book launch.
The subsequent encounter with Buhari, according to the former minister, came in the run-up to the 2015 general election, after they had consummated the merger that birthed the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mohammed, who was the opposition spokesman for the Action Congress of Nigeria and later the APC, for over a decade, said he was usually part of the meetings with Gen. Buhari in Kaduna.
The meeting, according to him, included his political leader, the incumbent President Bola Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande and were usually held on Mondays and Thursdays.
Mohammed said these long-standing interactions, built on mutual respect and shared political ideals, laid the foundation for the confidence Buhari later placed in him as minister.
He added that serving in Buhari’s administration for nearly eight years allowed him to witness firsthand the former President’s dedication to discipline, integrity, and national service, values that guided his own conduct in office.
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