Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has died in London at the age of 82, following a prolonged illness, his successor, President Bola Tinubu, announced yesterday.
Buhari made history in 2015 when he returned to Nigeria’s State House as the first opposition candidate to defeat a sitting president, Goodluck Jonathan.
Muhammadu Buhari first came to power through a military coup in 1983 and ruled until 1985. Decades later, he returned to politics as a civilian politician to advance the democratic process in Nigeria. Among Buhari’s policies was to cleanse Nigeria’s political system. This agenda won him admiration across class and regional divides. “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody,” he famously declared, seeking to position himself above the country’s deeply entrenched political loyalties.
Yet, despite these efforts, Buhari’s presidency was marred by persistent insecurity. Though he pledged to eliminate Boko Haram and restore national order, violence spread beyond the northeast as Boko Haram defied the security forces.
Ultimately, Muhammadu Buhari leaves behind a complex and debated legacy. As both a former military leader and a twice-elected civilian president, he represented the dual paths of Nigeria’s political journey. His 2015 election marked a significant moment in the country’s democratic development, yet several of his reform goals faced challenges and remained only partially realised.
For supporters, he was a symbol of integrity and order; for critics, a leader who failed to deliver the stability and transformation he once promised.