Buhari, remembered for an anti-corruption drive and faltering economic system, leaves behind a contentious legacy.
Nigeria’s former President Muhammadu Buhari has died in London on the age of 82 following an extended sickness.
“President Buhari died at present in London at about 4:30pm (15:30 GMT) following a protracted sickness,” President Bola Tinubu’s spokesperson introduced on Sunday by way of the social media platform X.
Buhari made historical past in 2015 when he turned the primary opposition candidate in Nigeria’s fashionable period to defeat a sitting president on the polls, unseating Goodluck Jonathan in what was broadly praised because the nation’s most credible election.
A retired main common, Buhari first dominated Nigeria within the Eighties after taking energy in a navy coup. He later rebranded himself as a civilian politician, adopting a softer picture in flowing kaftans and declaring himself a “transformed democrat”.
Identified for his austere fashion and fiery rhetoric towards corruption, Buhari was seen by his supporters as a reformer. “I belong to everyone and I belong to no person,” he usually declared, searching for to place himself above Nigeria’s entrenched political factions.
But his presidency struggled to comprise rising insecurity. Whereas he promised to defeat Boko Haram and restore order, armed violence unfold far past the northeast. Gunmen, separatists, and legal teams operated with impunity throughout giant elements of the nation by the tip of his tenure.
Nonetheless, Buhari leaves behind a legacy as a logo of democratic change in Nigeria, even when the transformation he promised remained incomplete.
A combined legacy
Buhari is being remembered as each a pivotal determine within the nation’s democratic evolution and a deeply flawed chief when it got here to financial administration and safety.
Chatting with Al Jazeera from London, Alexis Akwagyiram, managing editor at Semafor and a longtime observer of Nigerian politics, mentioned Buhari can be remembered for reaching what many thought not possible: successful energy as an opposition candidate.
“He was the primary opposition candidate because the return to civilian rule to win on the poll field,” Akwagyiram mentioned, referencing Buhari’s 2015 victory over Jonathan. “Historical past will keep in mind him favourably for that.”
But Akwagyiram was blunt in regards to the failings that marked Buhari’s time in workplace. He described the previous common as “very ineffective” in managing Nigeria’s economic system, citing his insistence on sustaining a robust naira, which led to a convoluted system of a number of change charges and two recessions throughout his tenure.
“His dealing with of the economic system wasn’t nice,” Akwagyiram famous, pointing to his fallout with former Niger Delta insurgents that led to renewed assaults on oil infrastructure. Mixed with low world oil costs and the COVID-19 pandemic, these elements pushed Nigeria – as soon as Africa’s largest economic system – all the way down to fourth place.
On safety, Buhari’s document was equally disappointing, Akwagyiram mentioned. Though elected with a promise to crack down on Boko Haram, an insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast solely expanded beneath his management. A rival faction, the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP), additionally emerged and unfold, whereas armed kidnapping gangs flourished within the northwest.
“All that occurred was Boko Haram and ISWAP each proliferated beneath his tenure,” Akwagyiram mentioned. “The armed forces had been unfold skinny throughout the nation and have become weakened total.”
Regardless of the criticisms, Akwagyiram highlighted why Buhari resonated so strongly with many Nigerians. “He had the private model of integrity and honesty,” he mentioned. “In a political local weather famend for corruption, that was interesting.”
Buhari’s austere picture and northern assist base helped him construct a nationwide coalition that twice propelled him to the presidency, a uncommon feat in Nigerian politics.
“He didn’t attempt to enrich himself,” Akwagyiram mentioned. “That’s one thing historical past will look on favourably.”
