Tinubu: Buhari Earned Nigerians’ Trust Beyond Power
President Bola Tinubu has said former President Muhammadu Buhari earned and retained the trust of ordinary Nigerians even after leaving office, describing it as a rare legacy built on integrity, honesty and consistency. Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the first anniversary remembrance of Buhari in Abuja on Monday, Tinubu said the late […]
President Bola Tinubu
President Bola Tinubu has said former President Muhammadu Buhari earned and retained the trust of ordinary Nigerians even after leaving office, describing it as a rare legacy built on integrity, honesty and consistency.
Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the first anniversary remembrance of Buhari in Abuja on Monday, Tinubu said the late president’s popularity endured beyond his years in power because he lived in agreement with the values he professed.
”Power ordinarily exhausts the affection of the governed. Yet, when he laid down the burden of leadership and through all the years of his retirement and in his final months when illness had taken the strength from his body, the trust of ordinary Nigerians did not depart from him,” Tinubu said.
According to the President, Buhari’s enduring bond with Nigerians was “the sturdiest inheritance any leader can leave a nation.”
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”It is not given; it is earned. And it is earned only through a lifetime of agreement between what a man says and what a man is,” he added.
Tinubu described Buhari as a patriot, who devoted his entire life to serving Nigeria, first as a military leader and later as a democratically elected president, saying few individuals had the privilege of serving one nation in two distinct capacities.
”He gave everything he had to this country, and he gave it without reservation, his heart with courage, his heart with conviction, and with a patriotism that never asked what the nation could return to him,” he said.
The President noted that Buhari’s life had become part of Nigeria’s national consciousness, saying the country gathered to remember him not out of obligation but because of the enduring impact of his leadership and character.
”We are gathered here today, one year after the passing of former President Muhammadu Buhari, because the life he lived is not a life this nation is capable of forgetting,” Tinubu said.
He said Buhari’s legacy extended beyond public office, describing him as “a man of real character” whose honesty, simplicity and self-discipline should continue to inspire current and future leaders.
Tinubu urged Buhari’s associates, mentees and friends to preserve the values he represented.
”Our duty as his friends, as his mentees and as his associates is to carry forward the inheritance he left us—honesty, simplicity and self-discipline,” he said.
The President also expressed solidarity with Buhari’s family, particularly former First Lady Aisha Buhari and their children, assuring them of the administration’s continued support and prayers.
Before delivering the President’s speech, Shettima recounted Tinubu’s concern for Buhari during his final illness in London.
He said the President directed him to visit the former leader in hospital and ensure he lacked nothing.
”When we got wind of the late President’s illness, the President called me and said, ‘Kashim, I have just learned that President Muhammadu Buhari is ill in London. Please kindly proceed to London and find out what is happening and ensure he lacks nothing,'” Shettima said.
He described seeing Buhari in the intensive care unit as “a moving moment” and said it was one of the greatest honours of his public service to escort the former president’s body back to Nigeria on behalf of Tinubu after his death.
Buhari served as Nigeria’s President from 2015 to 2023, after previously serving as the country’s military Head of State between December 1983 and August 1985. Born on December 17, 1942, in Daura, Katsina State, he joined the Nigerian Army in 1961 and entered democratic politics after years in military service, winning the 2015 presidential election after three unsuccessful attempts before securing a second term in 2019.
He died on July 13, 2025, at the age of 82 in a London hospital after a prolonged illness.