On the 13th day of July, 2025, the death was announced of the immediate past President of Nigeria and a one-time military Head of State, President Muhammadu Buhari, in a London Hospital.
Characteristic of death, he stealthily took away the former strongman of the Nigerian military and number one citizen who had had the rare privilege of ruling the country twice.
At first, I felt it was another rumour characteristic of the Nigerian social media but, alas! the conventional media stations also carried the news which confirmed that the ultimate had truly happened to the tall, lanky leader.
The President of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, shortly after the confirmation of the demise of the former President, carried the nation along in the mourning process of a man who had given Nigeria his service.
A public holiday was announced and on the 15th day of July, 2025, as the corpse of the former President was brought into Nigeria and buried in the Islamic way in his home town of Daura in Katsina State.
With the burial process televised live, it became clear that Nigeria had truly lost its former director of its national affairs who was not buried with gold or diamond but in a mere shroud of Islamic declaration of vanity.
The President was not buried in a mausoleum of pharaonic status but in a less-than-six-feet grave in the presence of the living who must learn a lesson from the ascetic nature of Buhari, both in life and in death. He was someone who talked little and acquired little. He was buried in the presence of friends, family members and leaders of the nation who had had the rare opportunity of knowing him in person.
Some had served with him and could tell the kind of a person he was. Some present there had not served with him but must witness the end of a man who had commanded the armed forces of this nation twice. Were Buhari to be a Christian, probably the need to indulge in a little vanity for him would have been observed. Interestingly as a Muslim, he must be buried the same day he died or so soon thereafter and as early as possible.
And in less than forty-eight hours after he was confirmed dead, he was interred with national honours but less than huge ceremonies. Death is sufficient sermon for those who care to listen.
While many praised the former President for his achievements for Nigeria, many others condemned him for his failings. Whatever judgment we pass, the ultimate judgment belongs to his Creator who knew his innermost thoughts and outermost exhibitions. All shall taste death one day as none is guaranteed eternal life while on earth. All must come to an end and one day, we shall be wrapped up and mingled with dust.
At that point, there shall be no remedy for what we did wrong and an opportunity to undo what had been done. The ultimate end is death. Here is where everyone must learn a lesson about the transience of power and the vanity of life. Unfortunately, many leaders have learnt nothing and death of a compatriot means nothing to them.
They have forgotten the Yoruba proverb that says iku t’o n pa ojugba eni, owe lo n pa fun ni. Yes.
That is an ancient wisdom that cannot be denied its truism. It remains valid till eternity that the death of a relative is a confirmation of one’s own mortality too. This ought to be a lesson for all to chase life less and seek the opportunity to rather impact positively on fellow humans so that we can live in the glowing memory of history and probably receive the grace of our Creator in the hereafter. Life is nothing but a fleeting shadow that no matter how much you chase it, you cannot catch it.
One day it shall all come to an end as if it had never begun. It will all blow away like a candle in the wind and the flesh that had been savouring the gleaming rub of expensive cream shall be cast into a narrow space in the earth.
Your loved ones cannot enter the grave with you and the mere thought of your ghost would be enough to scare them into shivers. They will pray and seek spiritual assistance to ward off your ghost if you persist in appearing too often to them whether in real life or in mere dreams.
Yet, many people have failed to learn from this and are in the process and plans of how to acquire the entire moneys in this world. They are busy perfecting arrangements on how they shall covet funds meant for taking care of the poor.
They are adroitly applying their golden pens to steal the filthy lucre that they shall never spend. After the country had spent nothing less than 18 billion dollars on its moribund refineries, the elegiac pronouncement of Dangote some days ago that the refineries would never work again made many to be livid, an attestation to my consistent comments on the alleged rejuvenation of the refineries. The shame of it is that ultimately no kobo is likely to be retrieved from the thieves. At the same time, Nigeria has no functional hospital good enough for our leaders to patronize and this is a sorry tale for the nation.
On this we lost the golden opportunity during the Covid-19 pandemic to establish good hospitals in spite of the various huge sums realized and dissipated, actually misappropriated, that time, notwithstanding my several interventions to the effect.
Unfortunately, most brilliant doctors in many countries of the world are Nigerians who have been trained at home but have relocated abroad in search of greener pastures.
Our investment in education is reaped by those countries whose leaders would not embezzle money meant for their healthcare but would rather provide the needed tools and equipment for their doctors to save lives. At the same time, they would not touch money meant for paying good salaries to their professionals but would rather utilize it to make tomorrow better for their nations.
Here we are, unashamed that our leaders would rather seek medical aid abroad as our own hospitals are death centres. It is a declaration of shame when my friend and former Spokesperson for President Buhari, Femi Adesina, declared that Buhari would have long died if had relied on the services of the Nigerian hospitals. Should we thank God for this or we should weep for the vote of no confidence that the government had passed on the nation’s health services? The best that our land is useful for is to serve as the cemetery where our leaders are to be buried when they die abroad.
That President Muhammadu died in a foreign hospital is a sorry tale that we should not be proud of. Leaders of other countries do not seek medical aid abroad in so far as they have made the provision for themselves and their people locally. It is only when your medical facilities are incapable of taking care of your needs that you will go abroad and Nigeria is a terrible case study when it comes to this.
The amount expended on medical tourism by Nigerians, including myself, is more than enough to guarantee good health care at home. Other countries are feeding fat on our madness that has refused cure. It is the elite and the people in government that can afford medical services abroad. What about the common man? That one is condemned to die at the attack of a slight ailment.
How can a poor man who cannot afford the cost of drugs dream of a foreign health service? The hospitals at home are cadaver rooms preserved for the common man and his relatives. Yet, every government promises to make life better for the citizens. It is not a blame deposited at the doorstep of the President alone. It is a blame to all leaders and civil servants who make it impossible for the funds appropriated for providing good health care services to be utilized accordingly.
It is a fault of a system that will not probe the source of wealth of an average public/civil servant whose children are schooling abroad without scholarship.
It is the fault of a system that will not query the wherewithal of funds appropriated for quality education when our universities are closing down intermittently as a result of lecturers’ strike actions. It is the fault of a system that appropriates more money for the luxuries of the leaders at the expense of the ivory tower. The death of President Muhammadu Buhari is supposed to be a wake-up call for all our leaders who are supposed to see the end getting closer. What account are they going to render to their Creator? What story are they going to tell their children unborn? That they were the ones who looted the country into stupor to the extent that the children of the poor cannot afford to feed? It is high time we all looked closely at our report card.
This is a signal that both the crown and the scepter shall one day be mingled with the dust. No matter how powerful you are, you are definitely going to taste death. The account that would be given of your stewardship is another thing. It is not a good report card that the best of our medical doctors is serving abroad while the worst of cemeteries is what we call hospitals.
Let me, at this point, express my admiration for the then Minister of State for Health, Dr Maruf Alausa (now the Minister for Education) for the unusual drive to multiply the production of medical doctors in the country. With this effort, all that basically will remain shall be the improvement of the conditions of service of medical personnel and the provision of infrastructure. I commend the President for supporting the great initiative and urge that same be urgently extended to the funding of the required infrastructure.
Buhari has come and gone. His fate is with his Lord who shall judge him according to his deeds. You and I have the opportunity to aspire to perform better. One day, we shall all answer the call. Adieu, President Muhammadu Buhari. Nota Bene: Permit me to equally pay condolences to the Governor, the government of Ogun State and the entire Ijebus, both home and abroad on the demise of the Awujale of ijebuland, the paramount ruler of ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona. Same is extended to the Governor, the government of Oyo State and the people of Ibadanland on the demise of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Olakulehin. May their souls rest in peace.
