African Leaders Mourn the Death of Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari

Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. Photo: X


July 13, 2025 Hour: 8:16 pm

Many African leaders mourned the death of former Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari in a London clinic at age 82, after suffering a long illness.

RELATED:

Nigerian Forces Kill 30 Gunmen in Northwest Counter-Offensive Amid Rising Bandit Violence

Chairman of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, said he had received the news of the death with “deep sorrow” and conveyed his “sincere condolences” to Nigeria in “this period of national mourning and collective grief”.

“President Buhari will be remembered as an upstanding and determined leader who served Nigeria with honor and conviction. Throughout his mandate, he remained a committed pan-African advocate for regional integration, good governance and Africa-led solutions to the continent’s most pressing challenges,” Youssouf said in a statement.

Buhari died this Sunday in London at the age of 82 after a “prolonged illness”, as confirmed by his successor at the head of state, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who ordered the flags to fly at half-mast in the country “out of respect for the late leader”.

The President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, also presented his “deepest condolences to the Nigerian people, the Government of Nigeria and the grieving family on the death of His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari”.

For his part, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abyi Ahmed, in a message posted on his X social media account said that his government and people convey their deepest condolences to “the family of former president Muhammadu Buhari and the people and government of Nigeria. We stand with you in these moments of grief.”

Tanzania’s president, Samia Hassan Suluhu, also declared herself “deeply” saddened by the death and sent her “deepest condolences” to Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Buhari’s family and the Nigerian people. ” May her soul rest in peace,” she added.

Likewise, the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, expressed his “deep regret” at the death.

“ECOWAS pays tribute to the memory of this distinguished statesman, whose invaluable contributions greatly boosted democracy and regional integration in West Africa and throughout the African continent. May your soul rest in paradise”, stressed Touray.

Former leader of the ruling Congress of All Progressives (APC), Buhari became president in 2015 after three failed attempts (2003, 2007 and 2011) and after defeating the then head of state, Goodluck Jonathan, in a historic triumph for being the first time that an opponent beat an active president in an election.

In December 1983, Buhari was one of the military leaders who orchestrated the coup against then-president Shehu Sahagari, which led to a government in which he served as head of state until 1985, when he was ousted by another military coup.

Source: EFE