Former Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has died in a hospital in London aged 82, his former adviser confirmed.
“The family of the former president has announced the passing on of the former president, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, this afternoon in a clinic in London,” said his former special adviser Garba Shehu, in a statement seen by Channel Television.
“May Allah accept him in Aljannatul Firdaus, Amin,” he added.
Obituary
Muhammadu Buhari (born December 17, 1942, Daura, Nigeria) was a Nigerian military leader and politician who served as Nigeria’s head of state in 1984–85 and later as a democratically elected president in 2015–23.
Educated largely in Katsina, Buhari took military training in Kaduna as well as in Great Britain, India, and the United States.
He was involved in the military coup that ousted Yakubu Gowon in 1975 and was appointed military governor of North Eastern state (now Borno) that same year.
He was appointed federal commissioner for petroleum resources by Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who became military head of state when Gowon’s successor, Murtala Mohammed, was assassinated in 1976.
By 1977 Buhari had become the military secretary at Supreme Military Headquarters, which was the seat of government. By September 1979 he had returned to regular army duties and commanded a division based in Kaduna.
Although civilian government had returned to Nigeria in 1979 with the election of Shehu Shagari, dissatisfaction with dismal economic conditions and what the military perceived as corrupt politicians led to another military coup on December 31, 1983, and Buhari was chosen unanimously to be the new head of state.
