The remains of former President Muhammadu Buhari has been laid to rest in his hometown Daura in Katsina State, following a solemn state funeral and Islamic funeral prayers attended by Nigerian and international dignitaries.
Buhari, who died in London on Sunday at the age of 82 after a prolonged illness, was buried in accordance with Islamic rites on Tuesday afternoon.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led the federal government delegation to the burial.
Foreign dignitaries, including President Umaro Sissoco Embaló of Guinea-Bissau and the Prime Minister of Niger Republic, Ali Lamine Zeine, also participated during the burial.
The casket bearing Buhari’s remains, draped in the Nigerian national flag, arrived earlier on Tuesday before the internment at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport in Katsina, where President Tinubu received it.
It was then transported to Daura, accompanied by a convoy of military personnel and other dignitaries.
As part of the funeral honours, a joint military team rendered a 21-gun salute before the former president was interred at his private residence in Daura.
Buhari, a former military head of state from 1984 to 1985, returned to power through democratic elections in 2015 and was re-elected in 2019.
Across Nigeria, national flags were ordered to be flying at half-mast since Monday in honour of the late President, following a directive by President Tinubu.
The National Assembly also suspended all legislative activities until July 22 in his memory.
Beyond being the final resting place of the general-turned-statesman, Daura, a small agrarian town in North-West Nigeria, was also the birthplace of the man known by millions of his cult-like northern followers as the “Mai Gaskiya” in Hausa language, meaning the truth-teller.
Buhari was more than a regional leader; he led Nigeria for a cumulative period of nine years and eight months, both as a military head of state and a democratically-elected president, making him one of the longest-serving Nigerian leaders.
Leading the roll call of mourners-in-chief was the former president’s widow, Aisha; Buhari’s successor, President Bola Tinubu; his vice, Kashim Shettima; Buhari’s former deputy, Yemi Osinbajo; former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar; billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote; serving and former governors, ministers, first-class traditional rulers, religious leaders, among others.
Before the funeral, Tinubu received the body of his predecessor at the Katsina Airport after it was flown from London, the United Kingdom, where the former Nigerian president died at The London Clinic on Sunday, July 13, 2025, after a prolonged illness.
Millions of Nigerians will remember Buhari as a man who championed the fight against indiscipline and corruption.
However, a mixed legacy will trail his departure, as critics have faulted some of his programmes and his handling of some policies, as falling far short of his promises and of his words.
