Buhari served himself, not Nigeria – Sowore

Political activist, Omoyele Sowore, speaks with ISMAEEL UTHMAN on the claim that the late former President Muhammadu Buhari left behind a legacy of integrity

The late former President Buhari was said to have left a legacy of integrity. Do you agree with that?

Absolutely not. The myth of Buhari’s integrity was one of the most dangerous propaganda projects ever sold to the people. For decades, a carefully curated image of a disciplined, incorruptible soldier-statesman was peddled, essentially to justify his return to power in 2015. But the reality, as Nigerians experienced it, was entirely different. Buhari didn’t just fail the integrity test; he also shattered it.

Under his watch, corruption was not only tolerated but institutionalised. Individuals under investigation or with established records of theft and abuse of office found refuge within his cabinet. His government protected some of the most corrupt figures in Nigerian history. Buhari’s so-called “integrity” never translated into accountability, transparency, or moral leadership.

How well did the former President rule the country?

Buhari ruled with a combination of detachment, arrogance, an iron hand and incompetence. He was never really present—physically or mentally—for the job. When he wasn’t abroad receiving medical treatment on public funds, he was absent from decision-making that affected millions. His regime was marked by economic collapse, growing insecurity, rising debt, and unprecedented suffering.

His idea of governance was nepotism, placing unqualified loyalists in key positions based on ethnic and religious identity. The result was paralysis across all sectors. Buhari ruled as if the nation were a military barracks, not a democracy. He failed to modernise Nigerian institutions, was unable to secure lives, and failed to provide any economic direction. The people bore the brunt of his cluelessness.

The former President respected the rule of law, according to his aide. Do you agree with this?

That statement is not just false, it is insulting. Buhari was one of the worst violators of the rule of law and human rights in the country’s democratic history. Under his watch, court orders were routinely disobeyed. Journalists, activists, and political opponents were jailed without trial. His regime criminalised dissent and weaponised security agencies against the people.

Let’s not forget his infamous statement that “national security is superior to the rule of law.” That alone tells you everything. The Department of State Services became his private Gestapo. Judges were assaulted in the middle of the night. I was also abducted first from my hotel room and also from a courtroom in 2019, after being granted bail. So, if Buhari respected the rule of law, it was only the law he made for himself.

 The naira redesign was said to be done to guarantee a free and fair election. How do you react to this?

The naira redesign was never about free and fair elections; it was an economic disaster masquerading as electoral pretence. Beyond that, it was a corruption conduit for Buhari’s Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele. It plunged millions into hardship, destroyed small businesses, and created a chaotic cash crisis that didn’t stop vote-buying. It only changed the players.

If the policy was meant to stop rigging, then why did the same rigged system produce a deeply flawed 2023 general election?

Buhari’s regime weaponised that policy not to protect democracy but to manipulate political outcomes. It was a cynical, ill-thought-out move that brought untold suffering to ordinary Nigerians who couldn’t access their own money. And in the end, the people who had access to the new naira notes were still the ruling elites. So, what exactly was achieved?

Do you agree that Buhari achieved success in his anti-corruption war?

There was no war. There was no battle, just propaganda. Buhari’s so-called anti-corruption campaign was selective, vindictive, and deeply hypocritical. His friends and cronies were protected. His political enemies were hunted. That’s not a fight against corruption; it was a weaponisation of anti-graft rhetoric.

Even the Economic and Financial Crime Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission lost credibility under him. Major scandals like the Maina pension case, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company contracts, and his Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, were openly and brazenly accused of corruption. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s opaque operations under Godwin Emefiele were swept under the rug until Buhari left office. He enabled corruption on a scale so vast that it will take generations to fully trace.

So no, he didn’t fight corruption. He fertilised it.

You have been criticising the former President even in death. Do you think that is fair to the dead?

Fairness is owed first to the living. Nigeria is filled with mass graves dug by Buhari’s failures and wickedness for victims of extrajudicial killings, banditry, hunger, poverty, terrorism, and neglect. Are we to pretend that the man who supervised so much suffering deserves silence now that he is dead? That would be a greater injustice. History doesn’t stop when a person dies. Memory doesn’t take a break. Those who hold public office, especially at the highest level, must know that their legacy belongs to the people, not their family or fan base or the graveyard.

Buhari betrayed the trust of a nation, and no amount of funeral diplomacy can change that

I have no personal hatred for Buhari, but I do have a deep responsibility to speak the truth. We must stop canonising failed leaders simply because they are no longer here to defend themselves. Let their actions speak for them. Buhari’s own record is enough indictment.

Buhari came to power on the wings of hope and left on the wings of despair. His tenure was not marked by transformation, but by regression. He used Nigeria to prolong his own life while shortening the lives of millions. He ran a government where empathy died, where dreams were crushed, and where mediocrity reigned supreme.

Now that he is gone, Nigeria must have the courage to tell the truth, if not for the dead, then for the living and the unborn. We owe it to ourselves to stop recycling false legacies. Let Buhari’s story be a warning, not a model.