Nigeria’s former strongman and president Muhammadu Buhari died at a clinic in London on Sunday at the age of 82.
Nigeria's former president, Muhammadu Buhari, who led Africa's most populous country from 2015 to 2023 and was the first Nigerian president to oust an incumbent through the ballot box, died in London on Sunday, a presidential spokesperson said.
"President Buhari died today in London at about 4:30 p.m., following a prolonged illness," President Bola Tinubu's spokesperson said in a statement.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima and his chief of staff are to travel to London to collect and accompany Buhari's body back to Nigeria for burial.
A Muslim, Buhari was expected to be buried according to Muslim rites in his home state of northwestern Katsina, government officials said.
'Converted democrat'
Born on December 17, 1942, in Daura, Katsina State, Buhari enrolled in the army at 19, and eventually rose to the rank of major-general.
He first led the country as a military ruler after a coup in 1983 that overthrew the democratically elected president Shehu Shagari.
His government then launched a “War Against Indiscipline” as it cracked down hard on dissent and jailed what it said were corrupt politicians and businessmen.
But after just 20 months in power Buhari himself was ousted by another of the military takeovers that repeatedly plagued Nigeria until its return to democratic rule in 1999.
Buhari referred to himself as a "converted democrat", later swapping his military uniform for kaftans and prayer caps.
He was elected president in 2015, after defeating Goodluck Jonathan on a vow to crack down on Nigeria's rampant corruption and end an insurgency by Boko Haram jihadists.
The 2015 election was judged to be Nigeria's fairest poll to date and made political history in a country where re-election for the incumbent had been taken for granted.
Many hoped the retired military general would crack down on armed groups, just as he had as the country's military head of state. They were also drawn to the anti-corruption ethos that was a central plank of his agenda both as a military and civilian ruler.
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‘Baba go slow’
But Buhari quickly disappointed after his 2015 win.
He took power as Nigeria was reeling from Boko Haram's kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls from the northeastern town of Chibok.
He took six months to name his cabinet and he faced criticism for relying on a small group of northern kinsmen as advisors, prompting people to call him "Baba Go Slow".
Nigeria, until recently Africa’s largest economy and currently its largest oil producer, went through a recession in 2016-17 and was struggling to improve on flagging growth.
His tenure in office saw few changes to Nigeria’s huge, and long-standing, problems of corruption, poverty and armed violence.
Despite what many regarded as poor performance in his first term, Buhari won re-election in 2019, thanks to massive support in poor, largely Muslim northern Nigeria.
In 2020 the country was hit by both the Covid pandemic and falling crude prices that hammered government finances.
Living conditions for many remained dire through his time in office, with tens of millions living in extreme poverty and young people facing crushing unemployment.
Buhari’s anti-corruption posture also suffered a dent as a number of ministers who served in his government came under investigation by Nigeria’s anti-graft agency for embezzlement.
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Failure to turn country around
On the security front, Buhari had declared in December 2015 that Boko Haram’s jihadists, who once tried to blow him up, were “technically” defeated.
But the group and an Islamic State (IS) group affiliated offshoot still stage deadly attacks on both military targets and civilians, some 2 million of whom remain displaced.
The Nigerian army killed 350 Shiite Muslims from an opposition movement in December 2015, with many gunned down and burned alive according to rights groups.
In October 2020, Buhari faced the largest show of public anger in years as ire over police brutality erupted into widespread street protests known as “End SARS”, initially directed against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
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The president scrapped the notorious police unit and pledged reforms, but this failed to appease the young crowds and their demands for more sweeping change grew.
Rights groups said Buhari never let go of his autocratic tendencies. In a major flashpoint, unarmed demonstrators protesting against police brutality were gunned down in 2020. Nationwide street violence followed, marking some of the most widespread civil unrest since military rule ended in 1999.
Since leaving office in 2023, Buhari moved to his native Daura and continued taking trips to London for medical checks.
(with newswires)
