By Henry Ikoh

On Sunday, July 13, the beat finally stopped for one of the nation’s finest leaders, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR when he breathed his last, departing this Earthly plane a few months shy of his 83rd birthday in far away, London, the United Kingdom.

While alive, the Daura born retired army General turned politician evoked different passions to many people depending on where those appraising his life and times stand with him.

One common denominator however is the fact that whichever prism one chooses to look at him but remains a personality untainted by corruption and corrupt practices, something that is very rare with people who have tasted power in this clime.

Coming from an unostentatious and unpretentious background, the late General Muhammadu Buhari crisscrossed the pinnacles of authority becoming a model and an exemplary personality with enviable track record of service to a nation in search of quality leadership.

A man of many parts, a soldier, a politician and a leader who exuded decency, sincerity and honesty while alive, Buhari was also imbued with some level of activism owing to the fact that he was a voice for the masses and a beacon of hope for a better Nigeria of our dream.

The late Muhammed Buhari’s emotions never interrupted his sense of purpose in service to the nation. This also made him place his family and friends secondary in his scale of preferences and priorities in the discharge of his patriotic duties to his fatherland.

While in charge of the affairs of the country, Buhari promoted ideologies and concepts that promoted peace, unity and progress of the country. As a leader, Buhari was a great listener who welcomed ideas that would move the country forward.

In his second coming as a civilian leader, Buhari governed Nigeria at a most trying time in the history of the country and subsequently laid down a legacy worthy of emulation that will stand the test of time.

His reputation and fatherly figure built for him a cultish followership not only due to his unmaterialistic posture but also to his transparent humility and honesty. Buhari was loved by many and revered by men of honor who craved justice.

His exit is painful not because he died but for realising that there are only a few good men left in the nation’s elite corps like Buhari and in the corridor of power and leadership like him.

As the nation mourns his demise, we mourn the vacuum created by the absence of a man imbued with selfless leadership and one wonders what lies ahead for Nigeria in the future without people like him.

The ideals of the late former President may not be transferable but it can be immortalised as an instructional and educational instrument for mentoring and building leadership capacity for the Nigeria youths and leaders of tomorrow.

Buhari was a colossus, a quiet and silent personality who in death his ideologies and philosophy of life became loudest than in his years in public service to his father land.

An incorruptible icon of leadership may have gone but his legacy and monumental track record in governance leaves on .

Henry Ikechukwu Ikoh ( Ozurumba )