•Akpabio and late former President Buhari
President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, GCFR, has described late former President Muhammadu Buhari as a man forged in the furnace of battle and tempered in the trials of governance.
In his tribute at the Special Session of the Expanded Special Federal Executive Council Meeting in honour of the Late President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, yesterday at the State House, Akpabio eulogised him for being “incorruptible, principled, and unbending”.
He said: “There are moments in the life of a nation when she must pause — not out of routine, but out of reverence. Today is such a moment, as we gather in solemn remembrance of President Muhammadu Buhari — a man forged in the furnace of battle and tempered in the trials of governance. A man who gave everything he had to a country that asked everything of him”.
According to Akpabio, “President Muhammadu Buhari was not perfect. No leader is. But he was principled. He stood for something. And in a world where it is easy to chase headlines, he chose instead to chase honour. Where others sought glory, he sought duty.
“As a minister in his cabinet, appointed by him, I saw President Buhari unplugged. He was not flamboyant — far from it. His voice was measured. His steps, deliberate. His public demeanor, austere. But beneath that calm exterior beat the heart of a patriot —unyielding, unbending, and utterly uninterested in personal comfort when duty called.
“He served this nation first in uniform, and decades later, returned to serve it once more — this time in flowing agbada. Whether clad in khaki or in civilian robes, through coups and campaigns, criticisms and crises, he never wavered in his belief in the promise of Nigeria. His legacy is marked by monumental achievements — too many, too vast, and too significant for me to enumerate within the time allotted for this tribute.
“President Buhari did not merely pass through the corridors of power; he left his boots and his imprints in them. He believed that discipline mattered. That integrity mattered. That leadership, even when lonely, must be anchored in something greater than power. He did not seek to ride waves of popular acclaim; he walked, with steadiness and often in solitude, along the ridge of national conscience.
“And let us be honest — he was tough. He was a soldier who did not flinch under fire, a leader who did not flee from responsibility, and above all, a Nigerian whose loyalty to this nation was never up for sale. His toughness was born not of pride, but of patriotism — a fierce, unrelenting belief that Nigeria, with all its challenges, was still worth fighting for.
“And yes, some disagreed with him. That is the nature of democracy. But even his fiercest critics will admit: he did not pilfer the nation’s purse, or pander to its pleasures. He remained, to the very end, a sentinel of Spartan simplicity and austere integrity.
“His life reminds us of a truth often forgotten in this noisy age — that greatness is not always loud, and that history, in its wisdom, sometimes reserves its most solemn applause for those who laboured not for fame, but for legacy.
“Let it be said by generations to come, that a man once walked this land with a firm gait, a steady gaze, and an iron sense of duty. His name was Muhammadu Buhari. May God bless his memory. May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, the Senate President submitted.
