Understandably, very few people would have felt a deep personal loss on the passing of former president Muhammed Buhari at a London clinic on July 13, aged 82, more than President Bola Tinubu. Both had formed a 13-year partnership that had endured as to make Buhari realise his ambition to become a democratic leader of Nigeria in 2015 after three failed attempts. But beyond that, Tinubu upon assuming office after Buhari’s departure in May 2023 forged an open-door relationship that ensured both men related in the best of trust and understanding.
Little wonder, Tinubu, stunned by the passing of Buhari at about 4.30pm London time, immediately summoned courage to assume the position of a Chief Mourner, reaching out first to the widow of Buhari, Hajia Aisha, and the immediate family of his predecessor. Moments after, he ordered Vice President Kashim Shettima and his Chief of Staff, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, to proceed to the United Kingdom to accompany Buhari’s body back to Nigeria, ordering flags to fly at half-mast across the country as a mark of respect for the departed leader.
Even as the remains of Buhari could not be brought back on Monday as a result of what state officials called “paper works”, Tinubu kept tabs on events in London while mobilising his lieutenants back home to be on top of the situation as he headed to Katsina to await the arrival of the body onward its final resting place at the spacious home of the Buharis in Daura.
The previous day, Buhari’s eternal foe and the one who supplanted him as a military head of state on August 27, 1985, General Ibrahim Babangida, rushed out a press statement expressing “deepest regrets” at Buhari’s demise, describing it as “a personal and national loss”. He called Buhari “my friend, my brother, my course mate and a fellow soldier in the journey of nationhood”. Although Babangida admitted that both had differed on issues of national interest, he however said: “I never once doubted his sincerity or his patriotism.” Not a few had reasoned that the statement brought to end the 40-year-old feud that had seen both men virtually avoiding each other in public glare.
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo, whom Buhari had served as petroleum resources minister while the former was a military head of state, also weighed in, saying: “Muhammadu was an epitome of discipline and he did his best to serve Nigeria both as a military and democratic leader.”
Another former military leader, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, said Buhari was exemplary: “I have known him since we both joined the army in 1962 and found him to have remarkable discipline, integrity and was trustworthy.”
Despite Buhari’s remains arriving in his native Daura a bit later than scheduled on Tuesday, it did not stop the crowd of mourners to create a rowdy scene that it took security personnel a swell of time to contain. It was indicative that no matter how the fallen leader was viewed by outsiders, he remained a cult hero in his home town even in death.
Few Nigerians had been aware that Buhari travelled to the United Kingdom in April for a routine medical check-up, considering that had been his practice since leaving office at the end of his two-term presidency in May 2023. Fewer still were aware that he had taken ill after the checks and was held back on admission. Nonetheless, his death at the far away place took millions of people by shock. But no sooner was his passing announced than the jury went out assessing his reign on the country at two separate times, the first from December 31, 1983 to August 27, 1985 and the second from May 29, 2015 to May 29, 2023.
Safe for the rare reputation for honesty that he was generally seen to possess, many had seen him as simple-minded, if not aloof and austere. But these qualities would still be put to test all through his presidency years and at the time of his passing, it would be hard to find many people acquiescing to the qualities.
The popular wave he rode on to win the presidency in 2015 came on the strength of his supporters’ belief in his military background and spartan credentials to help put a final stop to the insurgency in northern Nigeria, in addition to the belief in his ability to wage a successful war on nepotism and corruption in government, while also creating employment opportunities for the country’s teeming youths.
However, a slump in global oil prices coincided with his time in office, leading to Nigeria’s worst economic crisis in decades. His administration’s kid-glove handling of insecurity in the country also brought him literally to the firing range, even as he failed to fulfil the promise to defeat the Boko Haram insurgents who constituted a huge threat throughout his presidency.
Worse still was the increased escalation of clashes between farmers and ethnic Fulani herders mostly in central areas of Nigeria. Many times, Buhari was accused of not reining in the murderous herders due to his ethnic link to them as a Fulani man. The period also witnessed the abduction of hundreds of secondary school students in the north east and north central. His administration has also not been absolved of human rights abuses, especially with the brutality visited on anti-police brutality protesters at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos on October 10, 2020 when scores of youths were said to have been killed by an invading army troop.
Either by himself or his minders, the virtue of his incorruptibility was highlighted for the most part. At every turn, he also never missed the opportunity to advertise his modest wealth as well as avowing how he shunned many opportunities for self-aggrandisement. Despite this outlay, however, doubt still hung around his personal commitment to the fight against corruption as he neither consciously reformed the weak structures that enabled corruption nor meted out strict punishment on erring officials. For the most part, he was rather concerned about staying clean than ensuring that his lieutenants did the same. It was a sheer demonstration of a weak leadership that perfused his presidency.
For proper assessment of the Buhari presidency, an equally proper focus must be placed on his declining health which made him absent from office during his first term for considerably long periods, including at critical times. At some point in 2017, he had left Nigeria in January for a medical trip to the UK but did not return to the country until mid-March. By May, he was off to the UK again for another round of medical tourism. This particular incident forced protesters to mass in the Federal Capital, calling on Buhari to “either resume or resign” after he had accumulated more than 90 days out of office on account of a health issue that was undisclosed. Even more embarrassing was how he turned his UK convalescing home to an office where he carried out state duties in the face of ceaseless heckles by Nigerians resident in London, which also attracted the world media attention. Notwithstanding Buhari’s avowal to being born-again democrat, the lack of transparency on his health posed a permanent blight on his reign as president.
Although he tried to be the first sitting president to be unbothered about who succeeded him in office, Buhari made a thorough mess of this act, openly declaring that he would only support whoever won the nomination ticket for the All Progressives Congress but still being ambivalent behind the scene, leading the candidates and their supporters to carry on as though he had backed them individually. This attitude had led to many insisting that Buhari had opposed the candidacy of Tinubu who eventually succeeded him. They also contended that the naira swap policy which the Buhari administration launched in its twilight principally aimed at scuttling the chances of Tinubu at the polls, even though he had already won the party’s presidential nomination ticket. The policy however backfired, leading to shortages and untold suffering by millions of Nigerians, particularly the vulnerable class whose daily survival depended on cash transactions. The suffering was enough to cost the ruling party dearly at the polls, safe for the fact that the opposition parties had not provided viable options for voters at critical areas of the country.
Buhari should have been lucky to be judged by history as a man of two parts – having led Nigeria twice in different capacities, aforementioned. But he would be judged right as an individual who tried his utmost to live by his personal creed of spartan discipline. As a leader of a country, he at both times neither demonstrated any serious preparedness nor the presence of mind to take head-on the challenges of leading a complex country as Nigeria. How he missed two rare chances at etching himself permanently in the hearts of the Nigerian people across ethnic and religious borders would, perhaps, forever remain a puzzle to solve.
Published on July 19, 2025
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