Uche Diala slams Shehu Sani over anti-Buhari comment

NO! SENATOR SHEHU SANI. BUHARI HONOURED MORE NIGERIANS AND IN THE RIGHT AND HONOURABLE WAYS

Dr Uche Diala

This submission is not necessarily a response to the afro haired and transitor-radio-sharing former Senator from Kaduna state who tweeted and I quote: “The President (Tinubu) physically attended the burial of Buhari, met with his family, declared a public holiday, held a FEC meeting in his honor and renamed a university to immortalise him. Something even the late President never did to others. …”

On the contrary, this submission is consistent with our resolve to defend late President Muhammadu Buhari’s honour, integrity and legacy, in life and in death. It is meant to set the record straight, counter the lies by the current administration, and ultimately stop its agents, cronies and proxies from continuing to deceive uninformed and or gullible Nigerians.

Obviously, Senator Shehu Sani’s obsession with and unwarranted disrespect for President Muhammadu “Mr. Integrity’ Buhari now bothers on the obsessive and pathological.

For starters, let me first inform Senator Shehu Sani that the most important honour done by Buhari was not done to any single Nigerian.

It was done to all Nigerians by his unmistakable sincerity and genuine respect for them, including by his genuine and proven concern for their welfare, well-being and that of their families. He genuinely never wanted nor allowed them to suffer needlessly and neither did he intentionally impose needless pain and hardship on them.

That said, let me respectfully inform the obviously selective memoried one-term former Senator that in 2018, Buhari as President did what could unarguably be called the greatest, most significant and most consequential honour done by any sitting Nigerian President to any Nigerian, dead or alive, to Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO Abiola) and in a historic, courageous and unprecedented manner.

Not only did Buhari honour Abiola a quarter of a century after the June 12 1993 presidential election and its unsavoury fallouts, after several military and civilian Presidents, including one from the same Yoruba ethnic group and South West geopolitical zone as he did not, he did it in a grand and comprehensive manner, with every ounce of sincerity and not for political gains or to impress anyone.

Buhari posthumously confered the greatest national honor of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) usually reserved for Nigerian Heads of state and Presidents, on MKO Abiola, even against opposition from some including an eminent jurist, former CJN Justice Alfa Belgore who said, “It is not done.” “It (national honor) is for people living.”

It is on record that to date, only 19 individuals (now inclusive of Abiola) have ever been honored with the GCFR, almost all of them former Heads of State, Interim Head of Government and Presidents of Nigeria, with 4 unique exceptions, viz: Queen Elizabeth II (UK – former Queen of Nigeria), Chief Obafemi Awolowo (Former Premier of Western Region), Dr Nelson Mandela (Former President of South Africa), and Colonel Muammar Ghaddafi (Former Leader of Libya).

Aside from the investiture as GCFR, Buhari also renamed the Abuja national stadium after Abiola (not a university or facilty in Abiola’s Southern region), declared June 12 as the new date for national democracy day in place of the usual date of May 29, and historically apologised, on behalf of the Nigerian government and the nation, to the MKO Abiola family and to those that lost their loved ones in the course of the June 12 struggle.

How dare Senator Sani say, “something even the late President never did to others”? What other “way” of honor could be better? And it was done intentionally after more than two decades and not forced or occasioned by a recent death of a man who left office just two years ago – one still loved by tens of millions of Nigerians across the nation.

Perhaps, this quote from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the posthumous investiture of MKO Abiola by President Buhari might help put it in even better and truly historic perspective:

“President Buhari, you have shown courage in taking tough decisions others avoided.

“As much as anyone could, you reached back into history to set the record straight and heal a festering wound.”

As I close, permit me to equally remind Senator Shehu Sani of a few other unforced, consequential and historic honour, out of many, done by Buhari to many Nigerians, including ordinary and patriotic Nigerians.

▪︎ In 2017, 50 years after the Nigerian civil war, President Buhari honoured retired police officers, mostly of South East extraction, who served in the defunct Biafran Police during the 30 months Nigeria Civil War by approving the payment of their pensions.

The police personnel who were granted presidential pardon by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000 but did not receive their pensions until Buhari came and did it in 17 years later.

A total of 162 officers were payrolled, while 57 next of kins were paid the death benefits of their dead relatives.

▪︎ In 2016, 31 years after, President Muhammadu Buhari honoured the 1985 Golden Eaglets team that won the inaugural FIFA U-16 World Cup in China by fulfilling a promise he made to reward them when he was Nigeria’s military Head of State before he was removed in a coup. No succeeding President fulfilled that promise until Buhari fortuitously returned as civilian President three decades later.

▪︎ In 2017, President Buhari honoured former staff of the Nigeria Airways by approving the payment of their severance package, decades after the national career became defunct and the workers begging for it.

▪︎ In 2023, 30 long years after, President Buhari honoured the 1994 African Cup of Nations winning Super Eagles players by approving the allocation of houses to them in any state of their choice.

22 of the players who won the tournament in Tunisia were promised houses by the then military Head of State General Sani Abacha, but it was not fulfilled when he died in 1999. Subsequent governments also failed to fulfill the pledge, until Buhari honored them.

There is more, but I will stop here, case and point having been lucidly and verifiably made.

The fact remains that Buhari was a real class act and in a different class all by himself. He never did anything, whether as Head of state, PTF Chairman or civilian President, for selfish political purposes or gains, neither did he seek for validation nor to profit from other people’s loss or pain.

Senator Shehu Sani and other agents of the current administration can try all they want to make former President Buhari look bad or taint his legacy, but they will keep failing and Buharists and honourable Nigerians will keep reminding them.

History and posterity will be kind to late President General Muhammadu Buhari Rtd.

God Bless Nigeria.

©️ Uche Diala

druchediala@gmail.com
20th July 2025

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