BACKPAGE COLUMN Paul Ejime
Nigeria’s northern town of Daura witnessed an unusual crowd on Tuesday, 15 July 2025, as Nigerians and members of foreign delegations paid homage to former President Muhammadu Buhari, whose remains were interred according to Muslim rites in his hometown, two days after he died in a London Clinic at age 82.
The full military honours accorded the late Nigerian leader included a 21-gun salute, a farewell march and a graveside oration read by Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Christopher Musa.
The state funeral ceremony was televised live as Nigerians observed a public holiday and a seven-day National mourning, declared by the government of Buhari’s successor, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu, the chief mourner, travelled from Abuja, the nation’s capital, to personally receive Buhari’s body, which was flown from London earlier in the day to the Umaru Musa Ya’ardua Airport, Katsina, capital of the northern state of Katsina.
The casket bearing the body was draped in Nigeria’s green-white-green colours. It was brought in a Nigerian Air Force Jet, followed by a military farewell honour for the late army general, before it was transferred into an ambulance, which was accompanied by a motorcade on a one-hour drive to Daura for the Islamic rite of passage.
Grieving former First Lady Aisha Buhari accompanied her husband’s body from London to Katsina, surrounded by family members and current First Lady Oluremi Tinubu.
Amid tight security, the rowdy airport ceremony was attended by the crème de la crème in Nigeria (top serving and former government and military officials, as well as traditional and religious leaders). Also in attendance were Guinea Bissau President Umaru Sissoko Mbalo, and an official delegation from neighbouring Niger Republic, to which Buhari traced his ancestry.
In Daura, the body was moved to the town’s prayer ground for Muslim prayers before it was commissioned to Mother Earth at exactly 5.50 pm Nigerian time in the late president’s modest compound.
The dignitaries included Africa’s richest man, business mogul Alhaji Aliko Dangote, opposition leader Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Buhari’s former deputy Yemi Osinbajo and current vice President Kashim Shettima, who led the government delegation to London for the repatriation of Buhari’s body.
Gen. Buhari first ruled Nigeria for 20 months from January 1984 to August 1985, as a military Head of State following the 31 December 1983 coup against the elected government of President Shehu Shagari. He was himself overthrown in another military coup by General Ibrahim Babangida on 27 August 1985, before he was elected President in 2015, following Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999 after long spells of military rule.
Buhari was re-elected in 2019 and served until 2023, when he handed over to incumbent President Tinubu, as the first opposition leader in Nigeria, to defeat an incumbent in power. He and Tinubu belong to the same ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
A former military governor, who fought on the side of the Federal Government during Nigeria’s civil (Biafran) war (1967-70), Buhari’s demeanour as a man of integrity contributed to his election as president of Africa’s most populous nation in 2015 after three unsuccessful attempts.
He was not a typical politician. Reticent in character, he was named an African anti-corruption champion by the African Union in 2018.
However, his critics highlight his inability to tame or control corruption among officials in his government or his close associates, with the cankerworm eating much deeper into the national fabric during his eight-year tenure.
In a tribute to his late colleague, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, another former Nigerian military head of State (1998-1999), described Buhari as “a gentle man, very quiet, and exceptionally honest.”
“When he came in as a democratically elected President, he tried his best to fight corruption. Unfortunately, (some officials), who worked with him were found wanting. …with the passing away of Gen. Buhari, politics in Nigeria will certainly change, I hope for the better,” said Gen. Abubakar, who was himself recently discharged from the same London Clinic where Buhari died.
Buhari ran election campaigns on promises to improve national security, the economy, and fight corruption, but his administration is criticized for failing to provide solutions to these persistent problems.
As an army general, there was a high expectation that Buhari would end insecurity in Nigeria, especially violent extremism and the jihadist Boko Haram menace. Yet, Nigeria, whose soldiers have successfully served in peace-keeping missions across the world, still endures embarrassingly high casualties from intermittent attacks and kidnapping for ransom by bandits and various armed groups.
According to Security Expert, Kabir Adamu, some 17,000 people have been killed in insecurity-related incidents in Nigeria since the Tinubu government succeeded the Buhari administration two years ago.
Media reports said Buhari died from cancer of the blood (leukaemia). He exhibited symptoms of ill-health and old age, especially during his first four-year term, when he spent several months in London for medical treatment amid rumours of his death in 2017. His latest medical trip to London was in April.
Buhari is the second Nigerian leader to die after treatment in a foreign hospital in under 15 years, after then-sitting President Musa Ya’ardua died in office in May 2010. Both men hailed from the Northern state of Katsina.
Following in their footsteps, Nigeria’s current President Tinubu has also been travelling abroad for medical treatment, this time to France.
This trend is seen as an indictment of successive governments in the oil-rich country, which is notorious for a poor healthcare system that encourages senior government officials and the few who can afford medical tourism, which constitutes a drain on the scarce foreign exchange revenue.
Paul Ejime is a Media/Communications Specialist and Global Affairs Analyst
