logo
Nigeria's former president Buhari dead at 82

Nigeria's former president Buhari dead at 82

France 2413-07-2025
Current President Bola Tinubu said in a statement that his predecessor died in London at about 4:30 pm (1530 GMT) "following a prolonged illness". He did not disclose the nature of the illness.
Buhari governed Nigeria with a strong hand as a military ruler in the 1980s before reinventing himself as a "converted democrat", serving two terms from 2015 to 2023.
"The family of the former president has announced the passing on of the former president, Muhammadu Buhari, this afternoon in a clinic in London," Garba Shehu, who served as Buhari's spokesman during his presidency, said in a post on social media.
Tinubu said he had spoken with Buhari's widow and ordered Vice President Kashim Shettima to go to England to accompany Buhari's body back to Nigeria.
He also ordered flags to fly at half-staff in honour of Buhari, whose tenure was dogged by health rumours.
His frequent visits for medical treatment during his presidency attracted criticism about the government's transparency over his illness and worries about leadership during some of his longer absences.
Although the nature of his ailment has never been made public, Buhari confessed in one of the trips that he had "never been so ill" and that he had received several blood transfusions.
Critics also said the visits highlighted the country's weak health system.
'A failure of leadership'
Last week his aide Shehu launched a book, titled "According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson's Experience", in which according to local media he confessed to fabricating a 2017 story about rats' invasions at the presidential office, to shift Nigerians focus away from concerns over the leader's health.
Buhari had spent nearly three months away receiving treatment in Britain.
"When the surge in calls for explanation of why the president would be working from home, if truly he had recovered his health and fit for the office came, I said to the reporters that the office, which had been in disuse, needed renovation because rats may have eaten and damaged some cables," he wrote in the book, according to local media.
The rake-thin 82-year-old Muslim from Nigeria's far north made history as the first opposition candidate to defeat an incumbent leader at the ballot box in 2015.
His election victory in a country where re-election for the incumbent had been taken for granted was seen as a rare opportunity for Nigeria to change course.
But his time at the helm failed to halt the country's long-standing issues of graft and insecurity, while the oil giant was further dogged by economic woes.
Despite concerns about his fragile health, his economic policies, the extent of his claims about better security, as well as the targets of his campaign against graft, he secured a second term in 2019.
In a 2020 opinion piece for The New York Times, Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie charged that his tenure in office had shown "a failure of leadership", writing that the "government of President Muhammadu Buhari has long been ineffectual, with a kind of wilful indifference."
© 2025 AFP
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Sudan: RSF names parallel government
Sudan: RSF names parallel government

France 24

time18 hours ago

  • France 24

Sudan: RSF names parallel government

Africa 14:41 A coalition led by the paramilitary group fighting for power in Sudan's brutal civil war has announced the leadership for its self-declared parallel government, further tearing the fabric of a fraying nation. Also, Islamic states take responsibility for a brutal attack on a church in eastern DRC that killed at least 43 worshippers. IS claims that dozens of homes and shops were burned during the attack. Finally, the super Falcons back on Nigerians soil after flying high with a stunning Women's Africa Cup of Nations victory over Morocco. The team bringing home their 10th title after a dramatic 3-2 comeback against the atlas lionesses on saturday.

Hunger must never be 'weapon of war': UN chief
Hunger must never be 'weapon of war': UN chief

France 24

timea day ago

  • France 24

Hunger must never be 'weapon of war': UN chief

The African Union, for its part, urged donors to provide greater support for the world's poorest continent struggling with poverty, unrest and the effects of climate change. "Hunger fuels instability and undermines peace. We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war," Antonio Guterres told the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa via video link. "Climate change is disrupting harvests, supply chains and humanitarian aid," he said. "Conflict continues to spread hunger from Gaza to Sudan and beyond," he warned amid a severely deteriorating crisis in Gaza, whose population of more than two million is facing famine and malnutrition. The World Health Organization has warned malnutrition in the occupied Palestinian territory has reached "alarming levels" since Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume but more than 100 NGOs have warned that "mass starvation" was spreading in the besieged territory. Millions going hungry The summit takes place against the backdrop of aid cuts by the United States and other Western nations that are badly affecting much of the developing world. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, head of the African Union's executive commission, said food insecurity was on the rise across Africa, blaming "climate shocks, conflicts and economic disruptions". "At this crucial moment, how many children and mothers on the continent are sleeping hungry?" he asked. "Millions, certainly. The urgency of the situation is beyond doubt." Youssouf said that more than 280 Africans were malnourished, with "nearly 3.4 million... on the brink of famine". Roughly 10 million people had been displaced due to drought, floods and cyclones, he added. Youssouf urged AU member states to devote 10 percent of their gross domestic product to agriculture to help foster "nutritional resilience". "But we cannot do this alone. We call on our partners to honour their commitments to finance and support African solutions," he said. Sudan is "the largest humanitarian catastrophe facing our world and also the least remembered", Othman Belbeisi, the regional director of the UN's migration agency, IOM, told reporters last week. Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than seven million people.

Hundreds demonstrate in protest-hit UK town
Hundreds demonstrate in protest-hit UK town

France 24

time2 days ago

  • France 24

Hundreds demonstrate in protest-hit UK town

It was the latest in a series of demonstrations in Epping, northeast of London, after an asylum seeker was charged earlier in July with three counts of sexual assault, including allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl. But only about 400 people from rival groups demonstrated in the town, as police put in place a tight security operation, erecting barricades to keep them apart and banning the wearing of masks. Essex police said they had "a robust policing operation in place to protect our community and to deal swiftly with anyone intent on causing crime or violent disorder". Protestors gathered outside the Bell Hotel in the town, which has been used to house asylum seekers and refugees, despite pleas from the local council to close it down. "They're a threat. They don't know who they are, who they're allowing in these hotels, and basically they're putting everybody at danger", one protester, who identified herself only as Cathy, told AFP. There was also a counter-protest by the organisation Stand Up To Racism, who chanted "refugees are welcome here' and "Whose streets? Our streets". Three people were arrested Sunday but the protest went off "peacefully," Essex police said in a statement. The issue of thousands of irregular migrants arriving in small boats across the Channel, coupled with the UK's worsening economy, has triggered rising anger among some Britons. Such sentiments have been amplified by inflammatory messaging on social networks, fuelled by far-right activists. Almost exactly a year ago on July 29, 2024, three young girls were stabbed to death in a frenzied attack in northwestern Southport. Nearly 24,000 migrants have made the perilous journey across the Channel so far in 2025, the highest-ever tally at this point in a year. © 2025 AFP

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store