President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has paid another glowing tribute to late President Muhammadu Buhari, saying the former President gave everything he had to Nigeria, and without reservation, served with courage, with conviction and with a patriotism that never asked what the nation could return to him.
Speaking at the first year remembrance of the late President Muhammadu Buhari, Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, noted that from his years as a military leader to his transformation into a democrat and a determined defender of constitutional order, late Buhari embodied the very spirit of change and nation-building.
According to the President, when he (Buhari) laid down the burden of leadership, and through all the years of his retirement, and in his final months, when illness had taken the strength from his body, the trust of ordinary Nigerians did not depart from him. It followed him into private life. It sat with him in Daura. It waited outside his door.
He said: “He gave everything he had to this country, and he gave it without reservation. He served with courage. He served with conviction and with a patriotism that never asked what the nation could return to him.
“Few men are permitted two lives in the service of one country. He was given that rare privilege, and he used it well.
“I want to say something about him that we do not say often enough. Power ordinarily exhausts the affection of the governed. That is the common course of office, and every one of us who has carried it understands that course.
“Such constancy, surviving the hallway of public office and the long quiet that comes after it, is the sturdiest inheritance any leader can leave a nation. It is not given; it is earned. And it is earned only through a lifetime of agreement between what a man says and what a man is.
“Today, we gather to celebrate his memory and to honour a man of real character, a leader who taught by the example of his own life and who departed, leaving behind an inheritance that continues to instruct us.
“We honour him in death as we honoured him in life, and we do so without embellishment because his life required none.
“He had no appetite for flattery when he was among us, and he will have none for it now.”
While praying for his immediate family, the President assured that the nation will stand by them.
“To the immediate family, to our dear Mrs Aisha Buhari, and to the younger Buharis, I know that you have passed through a season of profound grief. Please be assured that the nation and this administration stand with you now and in all the years to come. We will continue to hold you up in our prayers, trusting that Almighty Allah will comfort you, sustain you, and shield you from all harm.
“Our duty, as his friends, as his mentees, and as his associates, is to carry forward the inheritance he left us: honesty, simplicity, and self-discipline.
“I have no doubt that had this remembrance been thrown open to all who wished to attend, this venue would have overflowed, and the streets beyond it would have overflowed as well. Such was the love and regard Nigerians held for President Buhari, and such is the love they hold for him still.”
Speaking on behalf of the family, late Buhari’s daughter, Safina Buhari, described the event as a day of reflection, prayer, and gratitude.
“We have been reminded not only of the offices he held, but more importantly of the values he cherished: faith in Allah, integrity, discipline, humility, patriotism, and an unwavering commitment to serving Nigeria with honesty and dedication.”