In a time when power too often came with plunder, Muhammadu Buhari stood out as an outlier. A soldier who became president, yet remained defined not by acquisition, but by restraint.
Let us be honest. His presidency was not without its shadows. Some challenges such as economic strain, insecurity, and ethnic unease persisted; but there was something in Buhari that resisted Nigeria’s most common disease which is “Greed”. That alone in today’s Nigeria is no small legacy.
In other words, I will describe him as a disciplinarian and as someone who stood tall as an incorruptible leader as much as he could. In death, as in life, his legacy reminds us that it is still possible to walk the corridors of power with clean hands.
As a journalist who interviewed the likes of Yakubu Gowon and Shehu Shagari, I saw firsthand how power reveals the soul of a man. Buhari was not flashy. He did not court popularity. He preferred silence to spectacle, solitude to swagger. To some, that silence was a flaw. To others, a virtue. But to the vast majority, it was authentic.
Buhari was never quite a democrat by instinct but when democracy spoke in 2023, he listened and walked away quietly. No drama. No desperation. Just a General, returning to his village with his head held high. History will remember him as the man who ruled twice: first by decree, then later by vote; yet he kept his appetite lean and his fingers clean.
Today, Nigeria bows to this great loss, not because Muhammadu Buhari was flawless but because he tried to stay clean in a dirty time. As he is laid to rest in Daura, may we not forget the lesson he leaves behind. “Integrity is not weakness and Discipline is not dictatorship but Leadership at its highest, is sacrifice”. Farewell, General. Nigeria saw you and History will not forget you.
- William Z. Bozimo
Veteran Journalist | Columnist | National Memory Keeper.
