Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who ruled his country both as a military leader and later as a democratically elected president, passed away on Sunday at the age of 82, according to an official statement from the presidency and his aide.
President Bola Tinubu confirmed in a statement that Buhari died at approximately 4:30 pm (1530 GMT) in London, following a prolonged illness. The specific illness was not disclosed.
Buhari first led Nigeria with an iron grip as a military ruler during the 1980s before rebranding himself as a “converted democrat.” He returned to power through the ballot box and served two consecutive terms from 2015 to 2023.
Garba Shehu, Buhari’s former spokesman, announced his death in a post on social media:
“The family of the former president has announced the passing on of the former president, Muhammadu Buhari, this afternoon in a clinic in London.”
Following the news, President Tinubu spoke with Buhari’s widow and dispatched Vice President Kashim Shettima to the UK to bring Buhari’s body back to Nigeria. Tinubu also ordered national flags to fly at half-staff in Buhari’s honour.
Buhari’s presidency was marked by persistent health concerns. Throughout his time in office, he made numerous medical trips abroad, drawing criticism over the lack of transparency regarding his condition and raising concerns about governance during his extended absences.
While the details of his ailment were never officially disclosed, Buhari once admitted during a trip abroad:
“I had never been so ill” and revealed that he had undergone multiple blood transfusions.
Critics argued that his medical travels highlighted the deteriorating state of Nigeria’s public healthcare system.
Just last week, Garba Shehu released a memoir titled “According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience”, in which he admitted to fabricating a 2017 story about rats damaging cables in the presidential office. This was intended to divert public attention from Buhari’s health concerns.
“When the surge in calls for explanation of why the president would be working from home, if truly he had recovered his health and fit for the office came, I said to the reporters that the office, which had been in disuse, needed renovation because rats may have eaten and damaged some cables,” Shehu wrote, according to local media reports.
The gaunt, northern-born Muslim leader made history in 2015 as the first opposition candidate in Nigeria to unseat an incumbent president at the polls — a moment hailed as a turning point for the country’s democratic evolution.
However, his time in power did not significantly curb corruption or resolve security challenges. Under his leadership, the country also continued to struggle economically.
Despite concerns over his health and mixed reviews of his governance, Buhari won re-election in 2019.
In a 2020 op-ed for The New York Times, renowned Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote:
“The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has long been ineffectual, with a kind of wilful indifference.”
She described his administration as having demonstrated “a failure of leadership.”