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[OPINION] BUHARI: The Man Who Missed Redemption

Published

4 months ago

July 16, 2025

By Israel Adebiyi

In literature, few tales haunt the conscience as profoundly as that of Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. A former convict hardened by the cruelty of the world, Valjean was presented a second chance—one forged in grace, offered through the kindness of a Bishop. That moment became the fulcrum on which his life turned, from darkness to light, from bitterness to redemption. Hugo’s message was clear: second chances, rare and divine, must not be squandered.

Sadly, Nigeria’s former President, Muhammadu Buhari, squandered his.

Twice gifted with the reins of power—first as a military Head of State from 1983 to 1985, and later as a democratically elected President from 2015 to 2023—Buhari had before him a canvas few in history are offered. He had the rare privilege of rewriting his story, of cleansing the stain of his authoritarian past with the balm of democratic growth, reform, and inclusion. But instead, Nigerians witnessed a man whose second coming bore frightening resemblance to his first.

As a military leader, Buhari ruled with an iron fist, cloaked in the garb of national discipline. His regime dismantled civil liberties, wielded decrees like cudgels, and created a climate where dissent was criminalized. The infamous Decree Number 2 gave the state security service the authority to detain individuals indefinitely without charge—essentially legalizing tyranny. Decree Number 4, arguably more draconian, muzzled the press, silenced truth, and enshrined fear.

The civil service was purged, not reformed. About 200,000 workers were reportedly shown the door in a wave of retrenchment that carried no clear vision for recovery or sustainability. Strikes were banned. Musicians like Fela Kuti were jailed. Corruption trials, while applauded by some, often bore the unmistakable scent of vendetta. Public officers were bundled into prison cells—some deservedly, others questionably. The National Security Organization (NSO) became a state-sanctioned menace.

It was in this furnace of repression that Buhari carved his reputation as rigid, unyielding, and unlistening.

Three decades later, Buhari returned, this time cloaked in the hope of democracy. Nigerians, wearied by years of underperformance, chose to believe in the rebranded General. This was a man, they thought, who had tasted the winepress of power and would now offer water to a thirsty nation. In 2015, he was swept into office on a wave of hope. Eight years later, that wave had receded, leaving behind the wreckage of dashed expectations.

Under his civilian rule, the country found itself battered on all fronts. The economy floundered under inconsistent policies and excessive borrowing. Inflation rose with a vengeance, while unemployment surged. National insecurity expanded with an alarming boldness—banditry, terrorism, and kidnappings claimed thousands of lives. Entire communities vanished overnight. Farmers abandoned their lands. Parents mourned their abducted children. And the president remained largely aloof, a distant figure in the Villa, often silent when his voice was most needed.

Even the petroleum sector—Buhari’s personal portfolio as Minister—suffered under an opaque, inefficient regime. The refineries remained comatose, salaries paid for jobs not done, and fuel subsidies ballooned into bottomless pits of corruption. Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, couldn’t provide fuel to her citizens without long queues and inflated prices. It was an irony so cruel it could only be Nigerian.

Then came #EndSARS, the haunting proof that the voice of the Nigerian youth—brimming with pain, anger, and frustration—had reached its boiling point. Instead of dialogue, the administration responded with force. On October 20, 2020, at the Lekki Tollgate, gunshots echoed in a night of horror, and a nation’s hope was drenched in blood. The president’s silence was louder than the bullets. A moment for empathy and leadership was missed. It revealed a government disconnected from the emotional temperature of its people, especially the young who had dared to ask for better.

If that was emotional violence, then the Naira redesign policy was economic. Near the twilight of his administration, a sudden, chaotic push to swap the nation’s currency, allegedly to curb vote-buying and mop up excess cash, plunged Nigerians into financial paralysis. ATMs went dry, queues grew wild, and families scrambled just to afford food. Markets stalled, businesses collapsed, and citizens were humiliated in their own banks. It was a policy executed with such shocking lack of empathy that even his most ardent defenders found themselves bewildered. A president once sold as the messiah had returned as an indifferent king.

As his tenure crawled to a close, many looked back not with nostalgia, but with numbing relief. His second coming, hoped to be redemptive, proved retrogressive. Not only did he fail to correct the wrongs of the past, he institutionalized new ones: nepotism cloaked as federal character, ethno-religious favoritism masquerading as competence, and an inability to build bridges across the nation’s many divides.

Upon his passing, Nigeria did not weep with reverence, but reflected with resignation. The tributes that poured in were often polite, diplomatic, and carefully worded. But beneath them all was a collective sigh—a sense of a man who had been given everything, and yet changed very little.

In the end, Muhammadu Buhari’s tale reads not like that of a redeemer, but a ruler who walked twice through the corridors of power and left the halls colder than he met them. Even in death, his name has evoked more sighs than salutes.

He could have been the one to restore dignity to the Nigerian state, to reimagine governance, to redefine leadership. Instead, he will be remembered as the man who had two chances—and failed twice.

History will not be cruel to him—it will merely be truthful. And in that truth lies his legacy: not one of transformation, but of a tragic, missed redemption.

Adieu “Mai gaskiya”!

News

Bandits Abduct Kebbi Deputy Speaker

Published

10 hours ago

November 1, 2025

Editor

The Deputy Speaker of the Kebbi State House of Assembly, Samaila Bambu, has reportedly been abducted by bandits suspected to be Lakurawa terrorists.

According to a resident familiar with the incident, Bambu was abducted on Friday evening in his hometown, Bagudo, in Bagudu Local Government Area of the state.

Confirming the incident, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ahmed Idris, said he had just received the information when contacted by The PUNCH.

News

JAMB Flags 2,658 Admissions As Illegal

Published

11 hours ago

November 1, 2025

Editor

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has flagged a total of 2,658 admissions conducted during the 2024/2025 academic session as illegal.

The illegal admissions were flagged from a total of 17 universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, according to a breakdown of institutional analysis conducted by the board, which was obtained by our correspondent on Friday in Abuja.

This is as public universities ended the admission processes for the 2025/2026 academic session on Friday.

According to the data, the affected institutions with illegal admissions are: Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (1,847); Osun State University (492); Abubakar Tafari Ali Polytechnic (148); Federal College of Animal and Health Production (66); University of Calabar (28); College of Education, Oro (12); Michael and Cecilia Ibru University (12); Redeemer’s University (five); Pan-Atlantic University (five); Nigerian Army College of Education (two); Kwara State Polytechnic (one); and Best Solution Polytechnic (one), among others.

JAMB categorises admissions conducted outside its Central Admissions Processing System, popularly known as CAPS, as illegal.

Over the years, the board has issued directives to institutions and candidates on the dangers of issuing and accepting admissions outside CAPS.

During the 2025 policy meeting organised by the board, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, warned that severe sanctions, including withdrawal of assets and punishment of officials, would be meted out to institutions involved in illegal admission racketeering.

CAPS, introduced in 2017, is being implemented to ensure transparency, fairness, and merit-based admissions, according to JAMB.

Candidates can track admission offers, accept or reject admissions, and verify their statuses.

Students who accept admissions outside CAPS risk ineligibility for the mandatory National Youth Service Scheme.

News

Gombe Wins Northeast Quiz Competition On Legislature, Democracy

Published

1 day ago

October 31, 2025

Editor

Gombe State has emerged as the winner at the 2025 North East Zonal Quiz Competition on legislature and democracy organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) for senior secondary schools across Northeast on Friday.

Speaking before the commencement of the 2025 edition of the zonal debate which focuses on the legislature, democracy and governance, the Director-General of NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, said the exercise was to deepen the knowledge of legislative and democratic governance among secondary school students and youth.

According to him, it was also to broaden their knowledge on the history, practice and procedure of the legislature and encourage deeper understanding of civic and democratic governance.

The competition, he added, would stimulate the interest of the young students in politics and make them more proactive in matters relating to the legislature and democracy.

He explained that enhancing the knowledge of young Nigerians in the legislature would not only foster an inclusive and participatory legislature in Nigeria but would also serve as an avenue for citizen engagement in the legislative process.

Represented by Mr Jeremiah Agada, NILDS Northeast Zonal Quiz Coordinator, Sulaiman added that the quiz competition would take place in all the six geo-political zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“It is also to inspire young Nigerians to cultivate the interest to participate in legislative governance.

“This 10th edition of the competition is therefore the fourth time the competition has been held at the national level.

“As the 2025 NILDS Zonal quiz competition is declared open, I therefore urge all competing students and their teachers to abide by the rules of the game so that the desired objectives of the competition are achieved,” he said.

Also speaking, the Bauchi State’s Commissioner for Education, Dr Muhammed Lawal, said the exercise was a welcome development in the circle of education, adding that it was a ground where students in the zone could be tested among other students in the country.

“This will enable us to improve the quality of our delivery in our various schools to our teeming students across the zone.

“I want them to take it upon themselves that in an engagement like this, there is no loser. You put in your best, and if at the end of the day, you don’t make it up to the top, your efforts will be crowned.

“I hope this will be well covered because it will stimulate other schools to be part of and perform better so that they can come up to this level as well,” he said.

Mohammed appreciated the commitment of teachers and moderators who coached the students to fully participate in the competition and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to revamping the education sector under Gov. Bala Mohammad’s leadership.

Announcing the winner of the competition, the Quiz Master Mr. Lucky Tongs, announced Gombe State as the overall winner of the debate with 75 points

He also announced Taraba State as the first runner up with 55 points and Yobe State as the third position with 50 points, adding that the winner is expected to represent the Northeast sub-region at the National competition in Abuja.

Other states that participated in the competition included Adamawa and Bauchi.