By IBRAHIM M. ZIKIRULLAHI
The passing of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on July 13, 2025, closes the chapter on a man whose leadership spanned decades, regimes, and political ideologies. Yet in death, as in life, Buhari provokes a question Nigeria has long struggled to answer: what does it mean to lead with integrity?
Buhari’s early image—as a no-nonsense military leader and anti-corruption crusader—offered a vision of discipline sorely needed in a nation plagued by waste and graft. Programs like N-Power, TraderMoni, and the School Feeding Programme aimed to inject hope at the grassroots level. Economic reforms like the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the Whistleblower Policy promised transparency. His push toward agricultural self-sufficiency signalled a desire for national resilience.
But hope, when offered piecemeal and arbitrarily, fractures under scrutiny. Buhari’s tenure as civilian president revealed troubling contradictions: selective prosecutions dulled the credibility of his anti-corruption fight, democratic institutions were weakened, and civic space tightened—especially in the wake of the EndSARS protests. Security threats went unchallenged. The economic freefall led millions into hardship, while the privileged continued to seek medical salvation abroad, symbolized by Buhari’s final moments in a London hospital.
Buhari is gone, but Nigeria remains. What we do now will determine whether his memory becomes a cautionary tale or the beginning of our national redemption.
The tragedy of Buhari’s legacy lies not in a lack of achievements, but in the erosion of trust. Nigerians expected transparency, not opacity. They hoped for justice, not justification. They believed in a leader, but were ultimately left with a system still incapable of caring for its own.
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This moment must not pass as mere mourning, it must mark a reckoning. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all who serve today should heed the lessons etched in Buhari’s journey: leadership that neglects empathy courts division; governance that excludes erodes unity. We need leaders unafraid of uncomfortable truths, bold enough to repair a wounded republic, and wise enough to know that legacy is not built on power, but on impact.
Buhari is gone, but Nigeria remains. What we do now will determine whether his memory becomes a cautionary tale or the beginning of our national redemption.
*Zikirullahi is the Executive Director of Resource Centre for Human Rights & Civic Education (CHRICED)
