As Senate Holds Special Valedictory Session for Buhari…

In an atmosphere thick with emotion and reverence, the Senate recently held a special valedictory session for former President Muhammadu Buhari, who died in London, the United Kingdom on July 13, 2025, after a brief illness. Sunday Aborisade captures the session.

The solemn plenary brought the red chamber to a standstill as senators from across party lines set politics aside to pay tribute to a man they described as a paradox of simplicity and authority, incorruptibility and empathy, discipline and compassion.

It was a session marked by candid recollections, warm memories, and respectful critique, befitting for a man whose leadership journey began in the barracks and ended in the highest office of Nigeria’s democracy.

Opening the tributes, Senate Leader, OpeyemiBamidele (Ekiti Central) described Buhari as “a gallant soldier and a successful democrat.

He noted that his contributions to Nigeria’s national life were as historic as they were transformative. From his modest beginnings in Daura, Katsina State, where he was raised by his mother, Zulaihat, after the death of his father.

Bamidele recalled how Buhari rose to the height of national service, entering the Nigerian Military Training College in 1962 and receiving his commission a year later.

His military career, the Senate Leader explained, started from fighting in the Nigerian Civil War to becoming Governor of the North-Eastern State and the first Governor of Borno, later serving as Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and founding Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Although not a direct architect of the 1983 coup, Buhari emerged as Head of State in its aftermath, running an anti-corruption regime anchored on the War Against Indiscipline (WAI), until his ouster in 1985, Bamidele clarified.

Despite the controversy surrounding his military leadership, Bamidele emphasized that Buhari’s loyalty to the Nigerian project was never in doubt.

After retiring from military service, the ranking Senator said Buhari’s second act came in the form of democratic ambition.

Bamidele said, “He (Buhari) contested presidential elections in 2003, 2007, and 2011 before finally winning in 2015 under the All Progressives Congress (APC), becoming the second Nigerian, after Olusegun Obasanjo, to rule both as a soldier and as a civilian president.”

As senators took turns to eulogize him, it became clear that Buhari’s legacy was not one-dimensional. He was as much remembered for his policies, some divisive, others widely praised, as he was for his personal conduct.

Senator Henry Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa West) offered a nuanced tribute. “I had my disagreements with some of his policies, especially the removal of the Chief Justice, the currency redesign, and the failure to restructure the country. But I never doubted his integrity,” he said.

 “Despite our political differences, during my re-election, he ensured a free and fair process. That spoke volumes,” Dickson added.

Former Senate President, Ahmad Lawan spoke from years of close proximity to the late president. “He left behind no property, no wealth, just a legacy of service. That’s the essence of life,” he said, praising Buhari’s rare sense of self-denial and simplicity in an era of conspicuous consumption.

Senator Adams Oshiomhole shared a deeply personal moment that underscored Buhari’s confidence in those he trusted. “He once sent me to represent him in Turkey. For someone from my background, that was a great honour. He gave me wings I never imagined I’d earn.”

A chorus of voices affirmed a consistent theme. Buhari’s incorruptibility.

Senator Mohammed Monguno recounted a moment that revealed Buhari’s resistance to even symbolic forms of impropriety. “After a dinner at the Villa, I joked that we Kanuris and Fulanis used to leave with brown envelopes. He looked at me and said, ‘I won’t give you any envelope. I’ve been to Kirikiri once, and I don’t plan to go back.’”

Monguno, however, clarified that the conversation was lighthearted and not reflective of any actual corrupt practice, but underscored the president’s firm anti-corruption stance.

Senate President, GodswillAkpabio cautioned against politicizing anecdotes. “When you said brown envelope, you were referring to transport, not corruption,” he further clarified. Still, the room understood the underlying truth: Buhari’s integrity was uncompromising, often to a fault.

What was perhaps most striking about the Senate’s tribute was the attention paid to Buhari’s lesser-known compassion. Akpabio shared the story of a woman arrested in Lagos during the WAI era for street trading.

“Instead of jailing her, Buhari intervened, arranged for her children to be enrolled in school, and provided funds to relocate her to a legal market stall,” Akpabio explained.

“Discipline was his public image but compassion was his hidden strength,” the Senate President further stated.

He also remembered a time when Buhari postponed reassigning a minister simply so the minister’s family could enjoy their weekend in peace. “It wasn’t a sack letter, just a reassignment. But he thought of the man’s children first. That tells you the depth of his humanity.”

Senator AbdulazizYari offered a poignant recollection of Buhari’s hesitation to enter politics.

He said, “In 2000, we asked him to run for office. He said no. He feared that if the people voted for him and he was rigged out, there could be protests and people might die. That’s not a man chasing power. That’s a man thinking of lives.”

Yari recounted that it was only after clerics urged him not to ignore the call of the people that Buhari finally agreed to run in 2003.

“He (Buhari) believed that if the people asked and he refused, God might one day ask him why he said no. And so, he came,” he said.

In its final act of tribute, the Senate passed three unanimous resolutions: a minute of silence in Buhari’shonour, commendation of the federal government for the state burial, and a recommendation that a national monument be named after him to immortalize his service.

Lawan commended President Bola Tinubu for the dignified burial and observance of national mourning, including a week-long suspension of Senate activities. “This is the minimum standard we must now adopt as a nation,” he said.

Akpabio echoed the sentiment of his predecessor saying: “This Senate has done the right thing by recording in its books not just the death of a former president, but the life of a man who gave Nigeria everything he had.”

As Senators rose for a final minute of silence, the gravity of the moment was clear.

This was not merely a legislative formality, but a national reckoning with the life of a man who gave structure to chaos, demanded order in disorder, and left behind a nation still grappling with the high standards he set.

In a country where public service is often marred by the scandal and forgotten legacies, the Senate’s valedictory for Buhari was a reminder that character, however complex or contested, endures beyond the corridors of power.