Former President Muhammadu Buhari, who died on Sunday in London, was on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, laid to rest at his residence in Daura, Katsina State, after funeral prayers and interment attended by numerous dignitaries led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This was as top military officers who served as pallbearers at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport in Katsina, wheeled the remains of Buhari that was laid in a casket and marched in a slow motion as part of his final journey from mother earth.
The well and neatly dressed military officers in their ceremonial uniforms, marched in tune with the music rendition from a military band playing instruments to the tune of a Christian hymn, “God Be With You Till We Meet Again”.
As expected, large crowds lined the streets of Daura and also gathered at the late former President’s residence to pay their last respects.
The former President’s final journey began on Tuesday afternoon, when his body arrived from London at Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport in Katsina.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, President Umaru Sissoco Embalo of Guinea-Bissau, Prime Minister of Niger Republic, Ali Lamine Zeine, former President of Niger Republic, Issoufou Mahamadou, former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, governors and business leaders, and other top dignitaries escorted the late Buhari’s remains on the hour-long drive to Daura from Katsina.
Upon arrival, a brief lying-in-state ceremony was held at the late former President’s residence which was followed by a funeral prayer (Salatul Janazah) led by Sheikh Salisu Rabiu, the Imam of the Central Mosque in Daura.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, read a citation of the late former President Buhari, who also served as a military Head of State from 1983 to 1985.
President Tinubu and the late President’s close family members witnessed the final interment at 5.50 p.m.
The state funeral was marked by full military honours with a 21-gun salute.
A weeklong programme of events which will include a a condolence visit to late President Buhari’s family by the Presidential Committee is expected to take place later in the evening of Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila, President Buhari’s wife Aisha, and other family members accompanied the remains of President Buhari to Nigeria.
Former First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari and her children who were all adorned in black, was accompanied by the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and were seen weeping as the body of late former President was being evacuated from the aircraft that conveyed it from the UK.
Contrary to earlier reports that the body of the late former President Buhari would be conveyed in cargo, it arrived in the Presidential Jet that also conveyed his family and other government officials led by the Vice President.
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, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, received the casket of the late President at the foot of the aircraft while a joint team of military pallbearers comprising nine senior officers carried and later rolled the casket that was dressed in the Nigerian flag on a trolley.
As Tinubu and others walked behind the casket trolley in a solemn procession, it was rolled through a full military Guard of Honour that was mounted by six commissioned officers and 96 other ranks drawn from the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Immediately after the Guard of Honour parade, the pallbearers escorted the casket into a waiting military hearse for the one-hour journey to Daura.
Thereafter, the burial train followed and drove in the one hour long convoy to Buhari’s final resting place at his residence in Daura, Katsina State.
