On the eve of July 13th, 2025, Nigerians both home and abroad officially received the sad news of the passing of former President Muhammadu Buhari. Unlike his kinsman Musa Yar’Adua, who died in office and was mourned with sadness and good wishes as a man of integrity—deemed democratically fit due to his good policies and adherence to the rule of law among other virtues—Buhari’s demise brought a lot of mixed feelings. For the first time, I saw videos of northerners, mostly youths, who were supposed to be bereaved because the man was from their region and also a former president, dancing and singing in excitement over his death. I was perplexed, to say the least.
They say, “Don’t speak ill of the dead,” but the living should remember that they will be judged by their actions in death. The Holy Bible clearly mentions men like Pharaoh, Judas, etc., who were wicked in their sojourn, and to this day we still speak of their atrocities (deeds). These stories are told so we won’t repeat their mistakes. Therefore, all I am going to list here won’t be to judge Buhari—as he is already facing or will face judgment—but as a reminder that “a good name is better than riches.” I didn’t experience his time as a military leader, but from opinions I have seen, it was a colossal failure.
However, I was privileged to experience the ineptitude and bigotry among other things, and I pray the present crop of leaders, mostly in the executive and the Senate (Senate leaders), will heed advice and common sense and do what is right.
Buhari, President of Nigeria (2015–2023), made some decisions that had significant political, economic, social, and security implications for the country. I will list but a few:
- Land Border Closure (2019–2021): This was supposed to be the best decision for our indigenous industries to increase production and stop smuggling. However, it turned out to be another hoax, as it resulted in food inflation, increased prices of goods, trade disruption, and violation of ECOWAS trade agreements, which did no good to ordinary Nigerians.
- Poor Handling of the #EndSARS Protests (2020): This was the highlight of his regime. Instead of integrating the new set of citizens born between 1999 and 2020—who were intolerant of his administration for obvious reasons and protested, which was ironically part of what gave him victory—he went ahead, whether directly or not, to give security forces the order to open fire on peaceful protesters. He covered it up and even arrested many others for exercising their civil rights. What a shame. May the souls of the departed at the time rest in peace. (If it were possible, I would have loved them to meet with him in the other realm where Buhari has no security. The pain for him when he sees them would have been unbearable—but I don’t have such powers.)
- Lopsided Appointments: It was almost normal during his tenure for key security positions, among others, to be occupied exclusively by a section of the North. In other words, he appointed key officials disproportionately from the North, thereby violating the federal character principle and heightening ethnic tension. He categorically stated that the 5% that didn’t vote for him shouldn’t expect much—and we saw the results.
- Over-Reliance on Borrowing: Nigeria became the poverty capital of the world with no real infrastructural investment for youth engagement, and our public debt ballooned to over ₦77 trillion. Future generations are now burdened with debt without visible infrastructure.
- Response to Banditry and Insecurity: Banditry was given special recognition and preference due to ethnic bigotry, while their counterparts in other parts of the country—whose killings, activities, and practices were far worse—were labeled terrorists. The bandits were “exalted” despite their atrocities. Mr. Buhari saw no reason to use the necessary force to curtail their excessive menace. He turned a blind eye while the Benue people and other parts of the country were burying, mourning, and sorrowing almost daily. Some sections of the country were treated as first-class citizens, while others were treated like lowlifes, especially in the North West and North Central, which were ravaged by banditry.
- Naira Redesign Policy (2022–2023): This was one of the worst policies, poorly executed by the CBN with Buhari’s backing. It created immense pain and hardship for Nigerians who wished to access their own hard-earned money. This led to severe cash scarcity, hurt the poor, disrupted the economy, and triggered chaos and crises such as the burning of financial institutions and killings.
- Increased Poverty and Unemployment: By 2022, over 63% of Nigerians were multidimensionally poor. Youth unemployment surged due to weak economic planning. Nigeria was declared the poverty capital of the world due to repressive, retrogressive, and insensitive policies targeted at the weaponization of poverty.
The list is endless for me, but I would like to stop here—not without naming a pocket of misguided decisions and other forms of poor policies. These include a weak anti-corruption strategy, which was seen as selective. High-profile corruption cases were stalled or dismissed. Undermining the judiciary and total disregard for the rule of law and court orders was very much pronounced (e.g., in the Dasuki and El-Zakzaky cases). He thus eroded confidence in the rule of law.
Conclusively and in summary: While Buhari had some achievements (like infrastructure development in rail construction, which I won’t fail to mention—as one can’t be entirely bad), many of his policy choices, appointments, and governance style were widely seen as autocratic and bigoted in nature, inefficient and inept by actions, poorly executed and mismanaged by his ministers and appointees who were directly answerable to him. He was out of touch with the people of Nigeria.
May God judge him according to His deeds and standards. I condole with the family on the loss of their father and husband.
Lucky, a political analyst writes from Delta State, Nigeria. He can be reached via Neroimini@gmail.com
