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MIXED REACTIONS TRAIL BUHARI’S DEATH
Reactions have continued to trail the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who died on Sunday at a London hospital after battling an undisclosed illness. Though the nature of the illness was not disclosed, the former president had been in London in the last couple of days undergoing treatment.
President Bola Tinubu, who announced the death of his predecessor in a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, directed Vice President Kashim Shettima to proceed to London to accompany his body home for burial on Tuesday in Daura.
Reactions
Reacting, some Nigerians expressed happiness, while others prayed for his soul to rest in paradise.
Gimba Kakanda, senior special assistant to the President on Research and Analytics, Office of the Vice President, in a post on X, tackled those celebrating over the former president’s death.
He wrote: Former President Muhammadu Buhari was arguably the luckiest Nigerian of our time, perhaps of all time. While former President Olusegun Obasanjo holds the record for the longest opportunity ever given to a Nigerian to lead the nation, closely followed by Buhari, what the latter enjoyed was a peculiar form of affection that will continue to intrigue generations of historians. That adoration did not come by accident.
“Even Buhari’s critics recognised that his popularity was no myth. He stood apart because he differed from others who held the same office or even lesser ones. He was demonstrably frugal. If he had pursued the primitive accumulation of wealth that defined many of his peers, he would easily have been among the wealthiest of them all.
“He was, like all of us, a flawed man, and was criticised for his transgressions. But his watch is over. So, to describe as punishment the long life of someone who lived into his eighties, especially by those half or a quarter his age, is an exercise in irony. It suggests that those of us who might die younger were the less favoured by God.
“This is not to gaslight those who feel they have something to say. Every citizen reserves the right to remember a public figure in a manner shaped by their experience. But just as we cannot dictate memory, neither can we impose empathy. Some people were raised on a different moral code, one that allows families the space to grieve, one that recognises that death, no matter how polarising the life that preceded it, is a pause that invites us to reflect on our own impermanence.
“The choice to show kindness, even to those with whom we once disagreed, is not hypocrisy. It is what defines our humanity. It is what separates us from lesser creatures, a moral sense of duty to honour life, even in its silence. May Allah forgive his shortcoming, and repose his soul.”
Activist Omoyele Sowore in a post via X, described the late Buhari as a tyrant.
He said: “Muhammadu Buhari slaughtered hundreds of Shiites, men, women, and even children
“He ordered soldiers of the @HQNigerianArmy to open fire on peaceful #EndSARS protesters waving the Nigerian flag.
“He “disappeared” Dadiyata.
“He ordered the massacre of young Southeasterners he branded IPOB.
“He disobeyed court orders, jailed critics arbitrarily, destroyed the economy, and ruined everything he touched.
“And now, because he’s dead, some people with selective memory want us to mourn or worship him? Shameful.
“NO, we do not mourn tyrants. We remember their victims.”
Renowned United States-based Nigerian scholar and columnist, Professor Farooq Kperogi, in a Facebook post, said news of Buhari’s passing evoked “pathos and an inexplicable sense of loss in me”, despite disagreeing with many of his policies and decisions while he was president.
He said: “It has been announced that former President Muhammadu Buhari passed away in London. Anyone familiar with my writings and commentary knows I vigorously disagreed with many of his policies and decisions while he was president. Our differences were deep, and my criticisms unrelenting.
“Yet, news of his passing evokes pathos and an inexplicable sense of loss in me. Death has a humbling power. It reminds us of our shared human fragility, our inevitable mortality, and the transient nature of power, ambition, and even resentment.
“I am troubled to see some people celebrating or mocking his passing. Death comes for us all. It is indifferent to politics, power, or privilege. We diminish ourselves when we rejoice in another’s demise. Someday, inevitably, our own turn will come. As Charles Franklin once famously said, “No one gets out of this life alive.”
“Today is not a moment for bitterness. It should be an occasion for solemn reflection, for empathy with his grieving family, and perhaps an opportunity for all of us to reconsider how we choose to live, debate, and disagree. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un!”
Maryam Shetty, a former ministerial nominee, while recounting her last encounter with the late president, said his death has left Nigeria visibly shaken.
“I remember my last encounter with you earlier this year. We visited you in Daura. I met you in your small, austere living room—just a bookshelf, a tea table, a blue sofa, and two guest chairs. Naturally, I sat on the floor, like I always have… I knew I wouldn’t be there for long, as you gently chided us for it, like you always did,” she wrote on X.
“What a shy, humble person you’ve always been. With a soft smile, you walked up to the shelf and picked out a book, casually dusting it off—though I wasn’t entirely sure there was any dust at all. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to know its title now.
“The first words that came out of my mouth were, ‘Baba, what kind of courage did it take to rule Nigeria?’ You simply smiled and shook your head. We chatted for a few minutes, and then it was time to go. We reluctantly took our leave, not knowing it would be the last time we’d ever set our eyes on the revered Baba Buhari again.
“Your passing has left Nigeria visibly shaken. The news spread through the length and breadth of the nation you once led; the nation that revered you.”
Bashir Ahmad, digital media aide to late president, said: “There is hardly any individual, dead or alive, friend or foe, who has ever encountered former President Muhammadu Buhari, whether during his days in the Nigerian Army or as a civilian leader and walked away with a bad memory of him.
“He was a man of unquestionable honesty and integrity, a very rare breed in this time.”
A social media influencer, Rinu Oduala, wrote: “The evil Buhari committed against South Easterners in his lifetime was unimaginable.
“He waged war against the South East. Both young and old were extrajudicially killed. The whole region was placed and is still under military siege while he forgave terrorists in the North.
“The evil he committed against Middle Belters was genocidal in nature. Families were wiped out almost on a daily basis. Children, women, men, slaughtered and many displaced up till now in Benue, Kaduna, Plateau etc.
“The military will drop bombs on villages & call it a mistake.”
It’s unfortunate people speak ill of the dead – Cleric
Speaking with Daily Trust, the Chief Imam of Kaduna Polytechnic, Abubaka Sadiq Doka, said it is unfortunate that people speak ill of the dead.
He said speaking bad of the dead is generally kicked against and considered bad (makrooh).
“It is generally advised to refrain from speaking negatively about the deceased. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, ‘When your companion dies, leave him alone and do not malign him,’ according to a hadith from Abu Dawud.
“However, there are exceptions, such as using the deceased’s bad deeds as a cautionary example for others, but even in such cases, it’s advised to avoid cursing them,” he said.
He added that every one is a sinner and as Muslims it encouraged to seek for forgiveness for all dead Muslims.
“We are all humans and prone to mistakes so seeking forgiveness for the dead is a way to beseech Allah to bestow his mercy on them for his forgiveness. We all believe that it is not entirely the deeds of a Muslim that would take them to Al jannah but through the Mercy of Allah. So it is important that we seek for forgiveness for the dead.”
He went on to state that except from the non-payment of debt, the Prophet has already said Allah has the power to forgive anyone no he wills.
