Lai Mohammed has said that his eventual appointment as a minister by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 was the product of long-standing trust, shared beliefs, loyalty and years of service, rather than a single defining event.
Mr Mohammed, who served as Minister of Information and Culture for nearly eight years under the Buhari administration, made this disclosure in his book, “Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments that Defined an Administration.”
The book, which was unveiled in Abuja on December 17, 2025, to mark what would have been Mr Buhari’s 83rd birthday, documents Mr Mohammed’s experiences while serving in the late president’s government.
He recalled that after Mr Buhari was inaugurated on May 29, 2015, there was a delay before members of the federal cabinet were announced.
Despite this, Mr Mohammed said the confidence reposed in him by Mr Buhari was evident, as the president personally included him in the Ahmed Joda-led transition committee in April 2015, even after the committee’s membership had initially been announced.
The transition committee was tasked with engaging the outgoing administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, reviewing handover documents and developing a roadmap for the incoming government.
In the book, Mr Mohammed recounted a telephone exchange with the late president that led to his appointment 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 pesident- 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 for 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.
Mr Mohammed noted that when the transition committee was first constituted without his name, he neither felt excluded nor offended, but was simply pleased that their party had won the election.
According to him, Mr Buhari’s decision to personally appoint him into the committee signaled the start of a close and special relationship between them, which endured until the former president’s death on July 13, 2025.
He further recalled that shortly before Mr Buhari marked 100 days in office, he received a call from a trusted associate of the president, asking him to assist the presidential spokesmen in preparation for the milestone.
At the time, Mr Mohammed said, ministers had not yet been appointed, although Mr Buhari had already named Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu as his media aides.
“I did not need a soothsayer to tell me that the call was a further indication to 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.
Mr Mohammed traced his relationship with Mr Buhari back to 2012, when he reached out to the former president through Nasir el-Rufai to request that he write the foreword to his first book, “Witness to History.”
He said Mr Buhari not only agreed to write the foreword but also attended the book’s launch.
According to Mr Mohammed, their next major interaction came during the build-up to the 2015 general election, following the merger that led to the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The former minister, who served as spokesperson for the Action Congress of Nigeria and later the APC for more than a decade, said he regularly attended meetings with Mr Buhari in Kaduna.
He explained that the meetings, which often included his political leader and current President Bola Tinubu, as well as Bisi Akande, were typically held on Mondays and Thursdays.
Mr Mohammed said these sustained engagements, grounded in mutual respect and shared political philosophy, ultimately earned him Mr Buhari’s trust and confidence as a minister.
He added that his nearly eight years in Mr Buhari’s cabinet gave him the opportunity to observe the former president’s commitment to discipline, integrity and public service, principles that shaped his own approach while in office.
