The remains of ex-Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari arrived at the Katsina Airport on Tuesday at around 1:59 pm from London and now being taken to Daura, his hometown, where he will be laid to rest.
The body was accompanied by Vice President Kashim Shettima, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and some family members of the late former president.
The body was wrapped in the Nigerian flag, was solemnly received on Tuesday by military personnel as it was lowered from a Nigerian Air Force plane.
Among those present at the airport in Katsina to receive the late president’s remains were Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda, members of the state’s executive council, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, and other prominent dignitaries. Family members of the deceased also gathered at the scene.
First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu was seen welcoming and consoling Buhari’s widow, Aisha Buhari, as the nation began its official farewell to the late leader.
Following a formal military honour parade in Katsina, the late president’s body was transported to his hometown, Daura, for burial under Islamic traditions.
Buhari’s remains had left London, United Kingdom, at approximately 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday. He passed away on Sunday at around 4:30 p.m. at The London Clinic after a prolonged illness, the details of which were not publicly disclosed. He was 82 years old.
Muhammadu Buhari served as Nigeria’s head of state twice — first as a military ruler from January 1984 to August 1985, and later as an elected civilian president from 2015 to 2023, making him the country’s second-longest-serving leader.
He died in London at the age of 82 on Sunday, July 13, 2025, after receiving treatment for many weeks in London.
His spokesperson, Garba Shehu, announced the news of his death.
Born in Daura, Katsina State, Buhari first led Nigeria as a military ruler from January 1984 to August 1985. After the return to civilian rule in 1999, he ran for president three times unsuccessfully—in 2003, 2007, and 2011.
Buhari in politics
In 2013, his political party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), merged with other opposition parties—including Bola Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), factions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)—to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).
That coalition led to a landmark victory in the 2015 presidential election, with Buhari and his running mate Yemi Osinbajo defeating the incumbent, President Goodluck Jonathan. It was the first time an opposition party unseated a sitting president in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic.
Buhari was re-elected in 2019 and served two full terms, eventually handing over power to President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima on May 29, 2023.
