Abdullahi Abdulwahab Yakubu
Let me begin with a note of sympathy and respect. I extend my sincere condolences to the family of the late President Muhammadu Buhari. May Allah (SWT) forgive his shortcomings, have mercy on his soul, and grant him eternal rest in Jannatul Firdaus.
Losing a loved one is never easy, and death should humble all of us, regardless of ideology or political alignment.
That said, this moment calls not just for prayers, but also for reflection, sober, uncomfortable reflection.
I have watched, with growing perplexity and sometimes outright confusion, the effusive eulogies and posthumous praise that have followed his passing. It is as though, in death, President Buhari has been reborn in the public imagination as a flawless leader, a paragon of integrity and vision.
But history cannot, and must not, be rewritten by sentiment or selective memory. As a people, we must resist the temptation to sanctify failure simply because it is no longer breathing.
President Buhari might have been a good man in private, as his family and loyalists insist. He may have meant well. But intentions do not govern nations, results do. And the facts speak louder than elegies: the Buhari years were among the most difficult in Nigeria’s history. Under his leadership, Nigeria witnessed a spiralling collapse of security, especially in the North-West, where bandits operated with impunity and citizens became sitting ducks in their own homes.
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The economy took a relentless nosedive, plunging millions into multidimensional poverty. Inflation became a daily tormentor. The naira became a ghost of its former self. And all this happened while corruption, oh yes, the very demon he promised to vanquish, flourished under his nose, wearing new robes and dancing to the same old tunes.
No sector was spared. None treated with more disdain than education. Our children spent more time at home than in classrooms due to strikes, policy confusion, and chronic underfunding. His cabinet, riddled with unproductive and often clueless ministers, became an ensemble of jesters, kleptomaniac, self-serving, and tragically unserious.
Yet, in death, this same president is now being extolled as a saint. Tribalist zealots, religious sentimentalists, and political opportunists have leapt at the opportunity to whitewash the truth, to immortalize incompetence, and to canonize a man whose leadership oversaw a decade of national stagnation and despair. This is not just cognitive dissonance, it is collective gaslighting.
Why does Nigeria do this to itself? Why do we wait until after a leader dies to suddenly decorate their legacy with roses they never planted? Why do we forget so quickly the pain, the failures, the dashed hopes?
A nation that refuses to hold its leaders accountable in life, and instead absolves them in death, is doomed to recycle misgovernance. We cannot demand good leadership if we do not first establish an honest and consistent definition of what it means to lead well. Good governance cannot be measured by loyalty to tribe or tongue, or by one’s piety in private. It must be measured by service, outcomes, justice, and the wellbeing of the people.
Until we break this toxic culture of posthumous sainthood, we will continue to suffer from leaders who know they will be celebrated regardless of their crimes or failures, if they die. It is an insult to the victims of poor governance, and a betrayal of those who dared to hope.
Let us honour the dead with prayers, yes. But let us honour the living with truth.
History must remain sacred, not sanitized.
*Dr. Abdullahi Abdulwahab Yakubu
