Reflections on PMB: Buhari and Maiduguri: A relationship that goes back in history

Yesterday, July 17, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the session of tributes of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) renamed the University of Maiduguri as Muhammadu Buhari University to honour his predecessor. As the decision was made public, many Nigerians got curious, inquiring the connection between the late president and Maiduguri to warrant such an […]

Yesterday, July 17, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the session of tributes of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) renamed the University of Maiduguri as Muhammadu Buhari University to honour his predecessor.

As the decision was made public, many Nigerians got curious, inquiring the connection between the late president and Maiduguri to warrant such an honour.

Buhari, who died on Sunday, July 13, hailed from Daura in Katsina State, North West Nigeria.

The expectation of many was that if any national monument was going to be named after him, then it should be one from either his state of origin or at least from his North West geopolitical zone.

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The curiosity is expected as there have been incidences in the past where the good intentions of government was misinterpreted and rejected leading to the cancellation of such honours as it happened with the naming of the University of Lagos after Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 elections.

But it is not likely that the people of Borno State would protest on account of the late president not hailing from the state as it has been established that the people of Borno see him as their son.

Though the late president identified with Daura, his paternal home; lived the better part of his life after retirement from the army in Kaduna;  retired briefly to Daura and later to Kaduna, after leaving office as president; he is partly Kanuri as his mother hailed from Kukawa in the present Borno State.

The Kanuri are found mainly in Borno and Yobe States in the North Eastern part of Nigeria and dominate the politics in the two states.

Beyond that uterine connection, however, Buhari himself had deep connections with the North East, especially Maiduguri, during his days in the military.

For starters, he was the first governor of Borno State when it was created under the Murtala Mohammed administration in 1976.

Before then, he was governor of the North Eastern State which had its capital in Maiduguri; the creation of Borno State only saw him continuing in the same capacity but under a different structure.

Incidentally, the University of Maiduguri was established in 1975, while he was governor. Though academic activities in the university could not commence till about a year later, he was technically, the one that laid its foundation.

It is also worth mentioning that Babatunde Idiagbon who later became Buhari’s chief of staff, supreme headquarters and de facto deputy, when Buhari became head of state of Nigeria in 1983, also governed Borno State after Buhari.

The late president also served as General Officer Commanding, 3rd Armed Division of the Nigerian Army in Jos between October 1981 – December 1983.

The administration of the 3rd Armed Division covered Borno State and it was while serving there that he set a record as a no-nonsense patriot who would spare no effort to defend the territorial integrity of his country.

It happened that there was an incident between some Chadian troops and some Nigerians along the border town between the two countries which resulted in the killing of some Nigerians at that time.

Without hesitating, the troops under Buhari’s command pursued the Chadian soldiers back into their country until President Shehu Shagari had to personally intervene for him to let go.

When Buhari went into politics in 2003, the North East, especially Borno, was one of the earliest to give him an overwhelming support.

In 2003, which marked his first outing as a presidential candidate, Buhari polled 727, 595 from the state as against the 380, 875 votes the then sitting president, Olusegun Obasanjo got.

In 2011, when he contested against President Goodluck Jonathan, but lost, it was not for nothing that it was the youth in the North East that were incensed by the outcome that they protested. 

Again, people recall that in 2015 when Buhari won, it was the votes from Borno that gave the final leap which made his opponent, then incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, to put a call to him conceding defeat even when the results were yet to be officially declared.

No doubt Borno and the North East played a very important role in the life of Buhari.

His wife, Aisha is also from  Adamawa State.

In a short video clip after he became president, one of his daughters, Zahra, stated pointblank that she is closer to Kanuri than Hausa.

She later married Ahmed Ndimi, son to prominent Maiduguri multi billionaire and philanthropist, Mohammed Ndimi, thereby extending the bond to the next generation.

In sum, it could be said that Buhari’s background was opposite that of General Sani Abacha in the sense that while Abacha had his roots in Borno but chose to identify with Kano State, where his parents were said to have settled,  Buhari who hailed from Katsina State was appropriated by the people from his mother’s side as their own.