President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed how he lost 2 of his children to sickle cell.
The revelation was contained in a documentary on Buhari’s personal life which was played at a private dinner on Friday, December 23, 2022.
Family members and close associates of the president organized a private dinner at the State House Banquet Hall on Friday night, to mark his 80th birthday.
Speaking on his personal life, the President revealed he lost 2 of his children from his late wife, Safinatu, to sickle cell anaemia.
Buhari noted that at the time he wanted to remarry, he insisted his second wife must be AA genotype so that his children would not inherit the S from his AS genotype.
President Muhammadu Buhari married his first wife Safinatu in December 1971.
Hajiya Safinatu was born on December 11, 1952, in Jos, Plateau, but is a native of Mani, Katsina State.
She studied at the Teachers Training College (WTC) in Katsina, where she graduated with a degree in 1971.
Safinatu first met Muhammad Buhari when she was 14 years old.
During President Buhari’s tenure in the Nigerian Army, he accompanied his late friend General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua to Safinatu’s father.
Since that visit, there has been a constant romance between Muhammad Buhari and Safinatu Joseph.
They had 4 Children, all girls together.
When Buhari was released from detention by the Ibrahim Babangida regime, the couple divorced in 1988. She was reportedly accused of receiving financial assistance from Babangida while her husband was in detention following the overthrow of his government. Buhari would later marry Aisha in February 1989.