Buhari at 83: Reflections

HE would have turned 83 years old on December 17, 2025. But he left five months earlier. President Muhammadu Buhari passed to eternity July 13, this year. At the occasion of his first posthumous birthday, an opportunity comes to reflect on his strengths, weaknesses (yes, everybody has), and what we can learn and approximate from his life and times. I worked with President Buhari for eight unbroken years and had the opportunity to know him fairly well. Beyond the call of duty, we had opportunities to discuss privately. In fact, I was with him in his Kaduna home days before he travelled to London for what turned out to be his last medical trip. You don’t hold aloft a banner that is limp and forlorn. No use. But Buhari had many things that discerning Nigerians can continue to be proud of, particularly those of us that believed in him. Many books have been written. Alhaji Lai Mohammed, his Minister of Information for eight years is presenting one in Abuja to commemorate his first posthumous birthday. Many others will still come.

Honesty. Never seen it in that fashion. A man that held positions that could make him wallow and luxuriate in obscene wealth. Minister of Petroleum in the 1970s. Governor of the North-eastern State, member of the Supreme Military Council, head of state for 20 months, Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund, who sat atop billions of naira that he had liberty to dispense anyhow he wanted, then democratically elected President for two terms. Yet he had told his family that he would not stockpile money for anybody. And that was exactly how it happened. The day the Petroleum Industry Bill was to be signed into law, I was conversing with the then Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari. And he told me he had never seen anyone like Buhari. “He has never sent a note to me through anyone that I should do that person a favor, or give money. An amazing person.” Many heads of agencies and parastatals under him have the same testimony.

And that was how he was all his life. He would never touch public money, despite all the positions he held. No wonder the average northerner dubbed him Mai Gaskiya (the honest one). He was frugal to a fault. Simply incorruptible. Integrity. Saying something and keeping to it, come hell or high waters. If he made you a promise, you could take it to the bank. Nigeria could sure use this virtue. Both the leaders and the led. He kept scrupulously to promises, both private and public. A nationalist, who loved Nigeria to the bones. Many times, when there were separatist agitations from different parts of the country, he would tell those of us who worked with him. “No matter what they do, they don’t know that there are some of us who won’t be alive and see Nigeria scatter. The Obasanjos, Danjumas, and those of us who fought the Civil War. We won’t be alive, and see Nigeria dismantled. They have us to contend with.” Discipline. He was the soldier from Daura, an officer and gentleman all his life. The story is told of a former President who would keep people waiting hours on end for public and private events. When he eventually arrived hours after, he would say anytime the President arrived was the correct time. Imagine! Not Buhari. He was at events, both private and public on the dot of time. Nigerians could sure use that kind of time discipline.

Altruism. Buhari was strict, but he also loved humanity. Just try and get your plight to his attention, and he attended to it. There were many people who appealed to me to tell him about their plights. I did, and he sent me to them, including those who were supposed to be political adversaries. I believe this will stand in his stead on Judgment Day. A man of compassion. Some people had imbibed wrong notions about Buhari, and they refused to change their minds. Even in death, they still stand opposed to him. What misconception. He is a religious bigot, an irredentist. A wicked man. Man who favours only people from his ethnic stock, his religion and language. If only they know. When he was to appoint a Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, it was said that I was the only non-Muslim in the four-man list. He scanned the names and took a pen from his breast pocket. He circled my name and signed in front of it. That was the first public appointment made in 2015. All the promises he made to me, particularly about access to him, he kept till the last day in office. Do they still make them like that anymore?

“Don’t let anybody stop you from seeing me. Whether in the office or at home, if you want to see me, just come.” There is no leader or government that does everything that should be accomplished in a country. It never happens. But Buhari did his level best for Nigeria. Yes, he trusted too much, and people took advantage of that. He never fired people who deserved to be chucked out of government. He let people get away with so many things. Those were some of his foibles. Everyone has his own. Today, just as you have plenty of anti-Buharists in the country, there are millions upon millions of us who believe. To those of us who believe, no explanation is necessary. And to those who don’t believe, no explanation is possible.

Buhari sleeps well. After what Shakespeare calls “life’s fitful fever”. He will wake to a glorious dawn. We will always remember him.

•Adesina was Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Buhari, 2015 to 2023

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