The body of former President Muhammadu Buhari is en route to Daura, his hometown in Katsina State, for the final burial rites.
The former president’s remains arrived at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport in Katsina on Tuesday, 15th July 2025.
The late president’s remains were flown into the country from London, where he died on Sunday, July 13, at the age of 82, following a brief illness.
In a final presidential flight, the body of former President Buhari arrived in Katsina at 1:59 pm on Tuesday, greeted by full military honour and state respect.
The coffin bearing former President Buhari’s remains was received with solemnity and full military honours, as top government officials, family members, and dignitaries gathered on the tarmac to pay their respects.
Vice President Kashim Shettima led the Federal Government delegation accompanying the body from the United Kingdom, as directed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The Nigerian leader, President Tinubu, had arrived in Katsina to receive the remains of his predecessor personally.
He was welcomed at the airport by Governor Dikko Umar Radda and other senior government officials.
President Tinubu, along with Vice President Kashim Shettima, President Umaru Sissoco Embaló of Guinea-Bissau, Prime Minister of Niger Ali Lamine Zeine, former President of Niger Issoufou Mahamadou, and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, received the casket of the late president at the foot of the aircraft.
Then, the pallbearers wheeled the former leader’s casket in a slow march, in sync with the hymn “God Be With You Till We Meet Again”, passing through a full military guard of honour comprising six officers and 96 soldiers drawn from the Nigerian Armed Forces.
A joint team of military pallbearers comprising nine senior officers laid the casket, draped with the Nigerian flag, on a trolley.
The team included Major-General Mohammed Usman, Major-General Oluwafemi Williams, Major-General Shuaibu Nuhu, Rear Admiral Suleiman Dahun, Rear Admiral Jonathan Ajodo, Rear Admiral Samuel Ngatuwa, Air Vice Marshal Adeniyi Herbert Amesinlola, Air Vice Marshal Idi Sanni, and Air Vice Marshal Obinna Obiabaka. Major General Mike Alechenu coordinated the team.
The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, is also in Katsina to join in the final rites for the former leader.
Former leader Buhari, who served as Nigeria’s military Head of State from 1983 to 1985 and as civilian president from 2015 to 2023, will be laid to rest today in Daura in accordance with Islamic rites.
A huge crowd of mourners, including political leaders, traditional rulers, and members of the public, is set to attend the burial to pay their final respects to the man many Nigerians called “Mai Gaskiya”—the Honest One.
The body laid in the cabin of the Presidential jet was received solemnly by dignitaries and not in the cargo hold, showcasing deep honour and respect for the personality of late Muhammadu Buhari and his service to Nigeria as former Head of State and a two-term President of Nigeria.
The late leader’s body, draped in the Nigerian flag, was conveyed along a red carpet in a solemn military parade led by senior officials of the Nigerian Air Force.
The procession was respectfully accompanied on foot by President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima to a designated ambulance that conveyed the body to Daura for final burial rites.
Afterwards, the body was deposited in a designated car while the crowd made their way to Daura, Katsina State, for the final burial rites.
The body of the late leader will be finally laid to rest with his body undraped from the Nigerian flag, folded, and returned to his widow in gratitude for the late husband, Muhammadu Buhari’s, service to Nigeria.