Adesina Reflects on Buhari’s ‘Mai Gaskiya’ Legacy

In a poignant tribute marking what would have been the 83rd birthday of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, his long-time media spokesman, Femi Adesina, has offered deep insights into why the former leader was reverently called “Mai Gaskiya”—the honest one—by his millions of supporters across Northern Nigeria. The reflection comes at a somber time, as Adesina noted that while December 17, 2025, marks the milestone birthday, the former president passed away five months ago on July 13, 2025.

Adesina’s lengthy article paints a picture of a leader whose primary currency was personal integrity rather than the material wealth often associated with high office in Nigeria. According to the former spokesman, Buhari’s reputation for honesty was not a manufactured political brand but a lived reality that spanned his decades-long career as a military officer, petroleum minister, and twice-elected head of state. The core of this reputation, Adesina argues, was Buhari’s absolute refusal to treat public funds as a personal treasury.

A key highlight of Adesina’s reflection involves a candid conversation with Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). The exchange took place on the historic day the Petroleum Industry Bill was signed into law. Adesina recalled Kyari expressing genuine astonishment at Buhari’s hands-off approach to the nation’s oil wealth. According to Kyari, in all his years of managing the country’s most lucrative parastatal, Buhari never once sent a note or a surrogate to solicit a “favor,” demand a contract for a crony, or ask for a direct disbursement of funds.

This testimony, Adesina claims, was consistent across various government agencies. He described the former president as “frugal to a fault” and “simply incorruptible,” traits that endeared him to the “average Northerner” who saw in him a departure from the perceived profligacy of the political class. For these supporters, the title “Mai Gaskiya” was an acknowledgement of a man who remained financially modest despite having the keys to the kingdom on multiple occasions.

Adesina further noted that Buhari’s discipline extended to his personal life, where he eschewed the ostentatious displays of wealth common among the Nigerian elite. This perceived immunity to the allure of public money allowed Buhari to maintain a unique, almost cult-like following in the North, where voters viewed him as a moral compass for the nation. As the country reflects on his first posthumous birthday, Adesina’s account seeks to solidify Buhari’s place in history as a leader who, regardless of the policy debates surrounding his administration, left office with his reputation for financial probity intact.