Former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s remains departed London on Tuesday morning aboard a Nigerian Air Force plane bound for Daura, Katsina State, where he will be put to rest later today.
A high-powered Federal Government team, led by Vice President Kashim Shettima, accompanied the late leader’s remains, overseeing vital documentation and ensuring the return voyage ran well.
According to Information Minister Mohammed Idris, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will personally greet Buhari’s body when it arrives in Katsina, where a brief military ceremony will take place before final transit to Daura for burial.
In keeping with Islamic tradition, the Janazah (funeral prayer) will be conducted in Daura, followed by interment at Buhari’s private residence.
President Tinubu has declared a period of national mourning, directing that condolence registers be opened across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) nationwide. Nigerian embassies and diplomatic missions abroad have also been instructed to open registers for public tributes. An additional register has been opened at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja.
As tributes continue to pour in from world leaders and citizens alike, President Tinubu has inaugurated an Inter-Ministerial Committee to oversee all funeral arrangements. The committee, chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, will work in close collaboration with the Katsina State Government and the Buhari family to ensure a dignified farewell for the former head of state.
In a further mark of national respect, 25 members of the Federal Executive Council have been directed to travel to Katsina to attend the burial and participate in the Third-Day Fidau Prayer, scheduled for Wednesday in Daura.
Buhari, who passed away at the age of 82 on Sunday at a London clinic, served Nigeria as a military head of state in the 1980s and later as a democratically elected president from 2015 to 2023. His burial marks the end of an era for one of the most prominent figures in Nigeria’s modern political history.
