By Omeiza Ajayi
Since the death of President Muhammadu Buhari on July 13, 2025, opinions have been divided as to his place in history.
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At a point, the division began to assume ethno-religious colouration until videos and social media posts of some of Buhari’s kith and kin emerged where they were seen gloating over his death.
But if Buhari’s eight years in Aso Rock caused schisms between the North and South and even within the North, his death caused even further divisions.
Even when one would want to adhere to Bishop Hassan Kukah’s admonition that the eight years of the Buhari presidency should not be used to judge his 82 years on earth, it is still difficult going by his antecedents as a military Head of State.
Buhari’s Decree 4, officially known as the Public Officers (Protection Against False Accusation) Decree 1984, was a highly controversial and draconian piece of military diktat promulgated by the late General.
Essentially, the ingredients of the decree, were Muzzling the Press, Punishment for “Embarrassing” the Government, Retroactive Application, Jailing of Journalists as well as Suppression of Dissent. Indeed, the Media and lovers of democracy cannot certainly forget Decree 4.
Another set of people that may not be in a hurry to forget Buhari are Lagosians who daily suffer the stress of commuting to and from work.
Buhari’s cancellation of the Metroline was a decision that set Lagos State back by several decades.
The bustling metropolis of Lagos, with its ever-growing population and notorious traffic congestion, stands as a testament to both Nigeria’s vibrant energy and its persistent infrastructural challenges.
Among the many narratives of missed opportunities and deferred development, the story of the Lagos Metroline project and its abrupt cancellation by Buhari in 1985 remains a poignant symbol of how political decisions can profoundly alter a nation’s trajectory.
Citing economic concerns and the need to limit foreign loans, Buhari cancelled the project which was not federally-funded. It was a state project initiated by the Lateef Jakande Administration. By that decision, Lagos taxpayers reportedly paid $78 million for breach of contract.
However, several years later, the same Buhari as civilian president approved $1.96 billion for the construction of the Kano-Maradi Standard Gauge Railway Line.
The 283.75 km (or sometimes cited as 393 km, including a branch line to Dutse) rail line starts from Kano, traverses through various economic hubs in Nigeria including Kazaure, Daura, Katsina and Jibiya, before terminating in Maradi, a major commercial city in Niger Republic.
It remains to be seen what the economic value of the project will be.
Retroactive Decree
As with Decree 4 which had retroactive application, Buhari also promulgated Decree 20 of 1984 (Miscellaneous Offences Decree) which specifically made drug trafficking and illegal dealings in oil punishable by death.
The retroactive decree led to the execution of Bartholomew Owoh, Razaq Ojuolape and Bernard Ogedengbe.
The crimes for which Owoh, Ojuolape and Ogedengbe were convicted were committed before Decree 20 came into effect. This meant that at the time they committed the alleged offences, the penalty was not death.
However, Buhari applied the new, harsher law to past actions, leading to their highly condemned executions by firing squad in April 1985.
Double standard anti-corruption war
There is no better way to describe Buhari’s posturing against corruption than the apt description made by former Kaduna Senator, Shehu Sani.
In 2017, Sani famously described Buhari’s fight against corruption as using “insecticide” when dealing with perceived corruption in the National Assembly, the Judiciary and the broader Nigerian public, but using “deodorants” when it came to fighting corruption within the Presidency itself.
This vivid analogy was made in response to President Buhari’s dismissal of a Senate committee report that had indicted the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, Babachir Lawal, on corruption charges related to contracts for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Sani accused Buhari of “double standards” in his anti-corruption campaign, suggesting that while the administration was aggressive in pursuing individuals outside its inner circle, it was softer and more protective of those within the executive branch.
Loved by many, hated by many
Buhari was a complex political paradox – hated by many, yet loved by many.
When in 2012, the then President, Goodluck Jonathan removed subsidy and increased the pump price of fuel to N100, there were series of anti-Jonathan protests across Nigeria. Jonathan later cut the price to N86.50.
Four years later, precisely in May 2016, when Buhari increased the pump price of fuel from N86.50 to N145 per litre, while many parts of Nigeria witnessed protests against the hike, youths in Bauchi State held a rally to express their “unconditional support” for President Buhari’s decision.
Throughout his political career, Buhari made several statements that were widely perceived as inciting, divisive or at least highly controversial.
These quotes often fueled debates about his leadership style, his approach to national unity and his understanding of democratic principles.
In 2012, Buhari was quoted to have said that “the dog and the baboon will be soaked in blood”.
This quote, made during an interview with a Hausa-service radio station ahead of the 2015 general elections, was interpreted by many as a threat of violence if the 2011 election scenario (where he lost and there were post-election riots) were to repeat in 2015. It caused widespread alarm and was seen as highly inflammatory.
Another controversial comment was; “My wife belongs in my kitchen, my living room and the other room” which he made in 2016 during a joint press conference with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, a woman, in response to his wife Aisha Buhari’s public criticisms of his administration.
This statement was widely condemned as sexist, chauvinistic and demeaning to women, drawing sharp criticisms from women’s rights advocates and many Nigerians.
Then in 2018, he practically called Nigerian youths lazy. During the Commonwealth Business Forum in London, Buhari stated; “A lot of them (youths) haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria has been an oil-producing country; therefore, they should sit and do nothing and get housing, healthcare, and education free.”
This quote generated immense backlash from Nigerian youths who felt insulted and mischaracterized, especially given the high unemployment rates and challenging economic conditions in the country.
In 2021, while reacting to agitations for secession by Biafran elements, Buhari said; “Those who are agitating for a re-run were not born by 1967 and have no idea of the horrendous consequences of the civil conflict which we went through. We will treat them in the language they understand.”
Of course, the statement was widely interpreted as a threat of force, evoking memories of the Nigerian Civil War and causing widespread outrage, particularly among the Igbo community.
It was so contentious that Twitter (now X) deleted the tweet from his account, leading to his decision to ban Twitter in Nigeria for several months.
Apart from giving appointments to the dead, under Buhari, Nigeria was dangerously polarized (apologies to Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (retd).
From socio-cultural groups like Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Southern Leaders/Elder statesmen to other groups like Access to Justice, political commentators, political parties and researchers, the Buhari administration was accused of serially violating the federal character principle.
In fact, numerous academic papers and analyses, such as those published by LSE Africa and ResearchGate, have detailed how Buhari’s government was perceived to be characterized by “a virulent form of nepotism” and that the government machinery was “captured and controlled by a few individuals whose agenda is to favour sectional interests and alienate others.”
Then came the Naira Redesign Policy in the lead up to the 2023 general elections. Lives and livelihoods were terribly affected at a time that there was also fuel scarcity.
While Buhari severally claimed to have removed fuel subsidy, Nigerians later discovered that the administration was still paying what it termed “under-recovery”. It ensured that it budgeted for subsidy up until June 2023, a development that cast the new Bola Tinubu administration in bad light especially with the latter’s ill-fated pronouncement that “subsidy is gone”. Nigerians have not recovered from the shock of that pronouncement.
Again, Buhari’s handling of Nigeria’s security situation was bad and seen as him taking sides. The manner in which Buhari stormed the office of the Oyo State Government House in Ibadan in 2000, along with other Fulani leaders over clashes between Fulani armed herdsmen and the indigenes of the Oke Ogun area of the state, spoke volumes.
His attempt to pacify the rampaging herdsmen was viewed with suspicion especially as he came up with initiatives that were seen as favouring only the herdsmen. Some of those initiatives included “Ruga”, “Recovery of Grazing Routes”, “Grazing Reserves”, “Water Resources Bill”, “National Livestock Transformation Plan, NLTP”, and the reported doling of N100 billion to Miyetti Allah herdsmen groups without appropriation.
His handling of the #EndSARS protests and others were also seen as high-handed.
12 million bloc votes
Buhari’s 12 million bloc votes claim was largely true. In the 2003 Obasanjo/Buhari presidential contest, Buhari recorded 2.7 million votes. In the next election, he got 12.7 million votes. In 2007, it came to 6.6 million, it went back to 12.2 million in 2011.
As the candidate for the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2015 presidential election, Buhari won with approximately 15.4 million votes nationwide. A substantial portion of this still came from the North. In the North West, he garnered over 7.1 million votes. In the North East, he secured over 2.8 million votes. In the North Central, he had over 2.4 million votes.
In the 2019 Presidential Election, Buhari secured approximately 15.2 million votes nationwide, defeating Atiku Abubakar. Again, his victory was heavily reliant on high turnout and overwhelming support in the Northern states, especially the North West.
The North West, in particular, consistently provided him with millions of votes ( around 6 million more votes than the next largest zone in 2019).
However, it is doubtful that he still had such support base after what some analysts say was his eight ruinous years as president.
Who inherits the bloc votes
The concept of a monolithic North is no longer tenable due to several factors including accusations of ethnic cleansing usually made by Northern minorities.
While Buhari got his larger chunk of bloc votes from his traditional Northwest, there is no known Northern politician that can mobilize that level of support.
While Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has held Kano to some extent, he has not been able to make inroads in other Northwestern states, let alone across the entire North.
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar (Adamawa) and the former Kaduna state Governor, Nasir El-Rufai may not also have the magic wand to pull such electoral feat in the North. With his exit, the era of raising people’s hands in some places in the North and simply shouting “Sai Baba, Sai Buhari”, hoping that it would translate into votes is over.
Promise not kept
Buhari was a promise not kept. He was well packaged with a lot of mouthwatering offers, but he under-delivered. It would have been better that he did not become president in 2015 and 2019. His goodwill among the generality of Nigerians might well have remained intact. His eight-year civilian presidency rubbished any fabled goodwill he would have retained till death.
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