The saying “different strokes for different folks” played out in Nigeria a few days ago. On July 15, 2025, the remains of former President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, were interred in the rustic town of Daura, Katsina State, after he passed away in a London hospital on July 13, following a prolonged illness.
Three days earlier, on July 10, suspected bandits raided the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary in Ivianokpodi, Edo State, abducted three young seminarians, and brutally killed Mr. Christopher Aweneghieme, a security guard attached to the seminary and an officer of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps.
The burial of the 82-year-old former president was marked with elaborate ceremonies. Buhari’s body, received by family and dignitaries at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport, was honored with a military parade before its final journey to Daura. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice-President Kassim Shettima, former Vice-Presidents Yemi Osinbajo and Atiku Abubakar, and business magnate Aliko Dangote were among those present. Yet, notable absentees included former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, and Generals Gowon, Babangida, and Abdusalami Abubakar.
When Buhari handed power to Tinubu in May 2023, he flew to Katsina and drove peacefully to Daura into the warm embrace of his kinsmen. But many wonder when the countless Nigerian farmers and families displaced by herders’ attacks and insecurity worsened by Buhari’s eight years in power will return home.
On receiving news of Buhari’s passing, Tinubu swiftly issued a national condolence, declared a public holiday, ordered flags to fly at half-mast, and dispatched a high-powered delegation to London to escort the body home. All expenses for this burial were paid from public funds. One wonders about the relevance of the holiday that denied Nigeria revenues at a time of economic fragility a case of being penny wise but pound foolish.
Meanwhile, there has been deafening silence from federal and Delta State authorities over Mr. Aweneghieme’s death, as though he were not a Nigerian who died in service. No condolences, no press briefings, no official concern for his family or the abducted seminarians. What an irony of fate!!!
Mr Awenegheime represents the face of so many unsung heroes in Nigeria who are paying the ultimate sacrifice in a country where people are surrounded by death all the time. Awenegheime, the only male child of his parents had four children. He was a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Emokwemhe, Auchi and was among the three officials posted to the Seminary by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) where he was killed by suspected bandits on July 10, 2025.
In October 2024, the same seminary was attacked. Its rector, Rev. Fr. Thomas Oyode, was kidnapped, and a seminarian, Mr Peter Andrew, was murdered. The priest returned demoralised and traumatised, yet security improvements were negligible.
Under Buhari, violence flourished. Boko Haram bombed public facilities and abducted schoolchildren, herders slaughtered innocent farmers, kidnappings for ransom became rampant. His government seemed helpless as communities were torn apart. While Boko Haram’s insurgency started in 2009 under President Goodluck Jonathan, it intensified under Buhari. The argument that Buhari was a man of integrity who tried to curb corruption may hold some truth, but the rot within his administration was undeniable.
There was the notorious fuel subsidy scam, where fraudsters posed as importers of petroleum products and siphoned billions from government coffers. The abrupt redesigning of the naira just before the 2023 elections unleashed untold hardship, strangling small businesses and punishing the poor. Corruption flourished: witness the 753 housing units built by Godwin Emefiele, the former Central Bank Governor, or the fiasco of Nigeria Air, in which a refurbished aircraft was paraded as a new national carrier in a deal that humiliated the country.
The government claimed to have spent billions of naira combating COVID-19, but the makeshift isolation centres and medical facilities have become derelict relics. In a bitter irony, Buhari died in a London hospital just like many other privileged Nigerians who fled the dysfunctional healthcare system they presided over. How are we sure some of the doctors treating Buhari weren’t Nigerian émigrés driven out by the “japa” syndrome? We train excellent medical professionals, yet our leaders deny them opportunities to serve their people. May Allah forgive those who failed to build functional hospitals at home while in power.
As if Nigerians are bereft of history, Buhari’s aides and protégés have swarmed the media with tributes, describing him as a leader of leaders and a paragon of integrity. Few have the courage to mention the sorrows his tenure inflicted on countless innocent citizens.
Truly, George Orwell was right in Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Where is justice when different standards are applied to similar tragedies? Is the government telling Nigerians that Buhari’s life was more precious than that of the slain security guard who died protecting innocent seminarians?
The way the international community perceives us is not really the standard measure for why we should work hard on improving things in the country. We chase shadows while the predator cries for justice, and the prey receives garlands of state honor. No good Samaritan emerges to console the family of Mr. Aweneghieme or rescue the kidnapped youths. May God forgive our indifference to innocent blood that cries out for justice.
Today, Buhari lies in a six-foot grave in Daura. In a few days, Christopher Aweneghieme will be buried in a grave of the same dimension. Death, as always, reduces us all to equals. Those in authority should learn to treat ordinary citizens with dignity to reflect their professed values.
The brutal killing of Mr. Aweneghieme and the slaughter of innocents Nigerian Christians in Yelewata a few weeks ago expose our society’s contempt for human life. We need a collective change of heart and orientation. Yet the Nigerian government has left the seminary authorities, the deceased guard’s family, and the Catholic Diocese of Auchi to grieve alone.