Farewell to Gen Muhammadu Buhari

Muhammadu Buhari, retired Major General, former military Head of State and two-time elected President of Nigeria, bowed into the cold hands of death on Sunday, July 13, 2025 at an upscale London clinic at 82. His passing brought to an end a prolonged history of illness and hospitalisation which pervaded his eight-year tenure between 2015 and 2023.

Buhari’s life embodied a hue of Nigeria’s post-independence history because of the roles he played at several of its junctures. He was a combatant on the Federal side during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970). His perceived principled lifestyle earned the esteem of his colleagues such that when the civilian government of President Shehu Shagari was toppled on December 31, 1983, he was invited to head the ensuing military junta.

After his overthrow on August 28, 1985, he faded from the public limelight, but was brought back to the centre of Nigeria’s governance by the late military ruler, General Sani Abacha, as the Executive Chairman of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund, PTF. Amidst accusations of unduly favouring the North and alleged large scale financial recklessness, Buhari, however, abundantly demonstrated his first love in governance – infrastructure development – across Nigeria.

His performance at the PTF won him admiration, particularly in the North, where his pandering to religion helped him develop a cult following that guaranteed him his famed “12 million” sure banker votes.

One of the legacies Buhari left in our democracy was his ability, with the help of political allies from across the country (notably incumbent President Bola Tinubu), to defeat a sitting president, Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, and bring down the once mighty Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Buhari had failed in his previous three attempts. His success in the fourth proved once again that no part of the country can win the presidency without the help of the others.

Buhari had won the admiration of many well-meaning Nigerians during his tenure as a military leader, during which he tried to reform the social behaviour of Nigerians through the War Against Indiscipline, WAI, and his anti-graft crusade. But by the time he returned as an elected president in his 70s, Buhari failed the expectations of most Nigerians.

His extreme nepotism in political appointments, inability to effectively tackle corruption, the worsening of insecurity under his watch (due, for the most part, in his many policy measures to foist his ethnic kinsmen on indigenous Nigerians) gave him very low marks.

The insecurity and battered economy that still assail Nigeria under Tinubu were inherited from him. Buhari left Nigeria worse than he met it – in a state of multidimensional state failures.

We urge Nigerians to accept his call for forgiveness and always strive to learn from his mistakes, while building on his positive legacies.

Our condolences are with his family and teeming admirers.

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