We are deeply saddened by the news of the passing away of our former President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari in a London hospital at the age of 82.
Our hearts are with the immediate family, friends and associates in these trying moments, especially his activist wife, Hajiya Aisha.
We must admit, his death has come as a surprise even as his first term was marked by long spells in hospital. But he emerged from it all strong and impregnable. Even out of office, his ramrod frame and long measured strides in or out of his farm were thought to be eloquent testimony of his good health. But we are all mortal.
Buhari gave his best to a country he strongly felt was in a state of disrepair. He had two chances to fix the country. First, as a young angry military general and second, as a conciliatory civilian president with a fatherly disposition. What the results were are entirely left to history and the individual.
Whatever those vedicts might be, it is near-unanimous that Buhari was associated with a single-mindedness of purpose (which some ascribed to stubborness); and protecting the sovereignty and dignity of Nigeria (as he understood it).
For us in the unions, Buhari came fighting the unions and mass-retrenching workers leading to indescribable suffering during his tenure as a military head of state.
However, as a civilian president, Buhari saw to it no worker was laid off (not even during the Covid-19 pandemic). He repeatedly gave facilities to state governments to clear the backlogs of salaries and pensions as well as to enable them regularly pay salaries (although some governors betrayed this trust).
Although Buhari increased the pump-price of petroleum products, he stoutly refused to sell off the refineries or devalued the Naira. Buhari consistently identified with worker-issues/values including resisting pressure to adopt fundamentalist market policies as part of the process of protecting workers and ordinary people.
In the late President therefore we have lost a leader who corrected his mistakes against workers, during his second coming; who stood with the people and country, a leader who truly put the country first no matter the cost.
May Allah forgive his sins as well as grant him peaceful repose.
*Comrade Joe Ajaero*
President
