President Bola Ahmed Tinubu landed at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport in Katsina State on Tuesday morning, ahead of the state burial of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who passed away on Sunday, July 13, 2025, in a London medical facility after a prolonged illness.
Tinubu’s arrival marks the commencement of final state rites for the late Nigerian leader, whose remains arrived earlier from the United Kingdom aboard a Nigerian Air Force aircraft, accompanied by Vice President Kashim Shettima. Shettima had been dispatched on a midnight mission to personally retrieve Buhari’s body and oversee repatriation protocols.
The former president will be laid to rest later today in Daura, his ancestral hometown, with full state honors. According to protocol officials, Tinubu will lead the federal delegation during the Janazah prayers and the final interment, in accordance with Islamic tradition.
A high-level security cordon has been established around the Daura residence, where foreign envoys, traditional rulers, former heads of state, service chiefs, and governors have begun arriving. Among those already present are former President Goodluck Jonathan, Sultan of Sokoto Sa’ad Abubakar III, and several ECOWAS representatives.
This burial marks the first full state funeral for a Nigerian president since the death of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2010. The Nigerian Army, Air Force, and Navy will perform a 21-gun salute as part of the honors, while the national flag continues to fly at half-mast across the country for the declared seven-day mourning period.
President Tinubu is expected to address the nation later tonight, reflecting on Buhari’s political journey from a military head of state in 1983 to a democratically elected leader who ruled from 2015 to 2023, leaving behind a deeply divided yet historically significant legacy.
Traffic across Katsina State has slowed considerably due to military convoys, with major roads blocked for security checks. Mourners continue to gather outside the Daura palace and mosque, chanting prayers for a leader remembered by many as austere, controversial, but deeply loyal to the North.
