There are moments in the life of a nation when political passions must give way to historical truth. The late General Muhammadu Buhari remains one of Nigeria’s most debated political figures, and disagreement over his leadership is both legitimate and inevitable. But disagreement should not become a licence to distort facts. For years, the description of Buhari as an “illiterate” was repeatedly deployed in political discourse until, for some people, repetition began to assume the status of evidence. Yet history cannot be established by political rhetoric. Buhari attended primary school in Daura and Mai’adua before proceeding to Katsina Model School and Katsina Provincial Secondary School, later known as Government College Katsina. His subsequent career included extensive professional military education and training. Whatever conclusions Nigerians may reach about his politics, this is not reasonably the educational history of an illiterate man.
The controversy partly reflects a deeper Nigerian tendency to confuse university education with education itself. Buhari did not follow the conventional university-degree route that has become familiar in contemporary Nigerian public life, but that is fundamentally different from saying that he was uneducated. His military career involved professional training in Nigeria and abroad, including staff training in India and advanced military studies in the United States. Military institutions train officers in strategy, command, administration, national security and leadership. Buhari subsequently occupied a succession of senior military and public positions, including Military Governor, Federal Commissioner for Petroleum Resources, General Officer Commanding, Military Head of State, Chairman of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund and, eventually, democratically elected President of Nigeria. None of these facts places him beyond criticism; they simply establish that the label “illiterate” is an inadequate description of his educational and professional background.
This distinction is important because educational qualifications, professional competence and political performance are separate questions. A person may possess several university degrees and still exercise poor judgment in public office. Another may lack a conventional university degree yet acquire substantial professional knowledge through specialised training and decades of experience. Buhari’s record should therefore be examined on its merits. His military government of 1984–1985, his civilian presidency from 2015 to 2023, his economic policies, anti-corruption programme, management of insecurity, human-rights record and approach to governance all remain legitimate subjects for critical historical examination. Indeed, no serious account of Buhari’s legacy should suppress the criticisms and controversies associated with his years in power. But criticism is strongest when grounded in evidence rather than insults.
The same discipline should guide discussion of Buhari’s reputation for integrity. Throughout his political career, he cultivated, and many supporters accepted, an image of personal austerity, discipline and opposition to corruption. That public reputation became one of the foundations of his political appeal. Yet the integrity attributed to an individual leader should not automatically be extended to every official, policy or action of his government. Nor should admiration for Buhari’s personal lifestyle prevent scrutiny of allegations, institutional failures or policy outcomes during his administration. Integrity in democratic governance must ultimately be examined through evidence, transparency, accountability and consistency. The important lesson is that it is possible to acknowledge the personal qualities admirers associated with Buhari while still subjecting his governments to rigorous criticism.
This question assumes even greater significance as Nigeria moves towards the 2027 general elections. Political competition naturally produces disagreement, but when disagreement degenerates into character assassination and historical revisionism, democracy suffers. Today’s political actors cannot credibly condemn misinformation while repeating convenient falsehoods about yesterday’s leaders. Neither Buhari nor any other Nigerian leader should be transformed into a saint by supporters or a caricature by opponents. Our current economic, security and governance challenges are serious enough to demand debates anchored in policies, records and measurable outcomes rather than propaganda. Citizens should be able to disagree profoundly without falsifying one another’s histories.
Buhari’s legacy therefore offers a broader lesson about how Nigerians judge leadership. Education is not synonymous with possession of a university certificate; character is not automatically established by educational attainment; and personal discipline does not guarantee successful public policy. Conversely, policy failures do not erase a person’s education, professional training or entire record of public service. History requires us to accommodate these complexities. Buhari could be disciplined in aspects of his personal life and still preside over policies that critics consider unsuccessful. He could possess substantial military and professional education without holding a conventional university degree. He could inspire extraordinary loyalty among supporters while attracting equally intense criticism from opponents. Mature historical analysis must be capable of holding these realities together without surrendering to either hero worship or demonisation.
The enduring question, therefore, is bigger than Muhammadu Buhari: what kind of political culture do we want to bequeath to the next generation? If we want a democracy founded on accountability, then facts must remain facts regardless of whom they favour. Let Buhari’s successes be acknowledged where the evidence supports them and his failures documented where the record establishes them. Let questions about his education, governance and legacy be interrogated with evidence rather than political convenience. Nigerians may admire Buhari, disagree with him or reject much of his politics, but history should never be rewritten merely to sustain a political insult. As the country approaches another major political contest, our guiding principle should be simple: do not worship political leaders, do not demonise them, study their records and let the evidence speak.
May Almighty Allah forgive late General Muhammadu Buhari’s shortcomings, reward whatever good he did for Nigeria and grant him Al-Jannatul Firdaus. Amin.
- Dalung is a former Minister of Sports
