The body of former President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived at his hometown in Daura, Katsina State.
According to Islamic rites, the body will be interred after a prayer session led by the Chief Imam of Katsina State.
A large crowd of mourners gathered at the residence of the former Nigerian leader to pay their respects and bid farewell.
The body, which departed from the United Kingdom earlier on Tuesday, was received at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport in Katsina by President Bola Tinubu.
PUNCH Online reports that a large crowd of mourners had gathered at the residence of the former Nigerian leader to pay their respects and bid their farewell.
The body, which left the United Kingdom earlier on Tuesday, was received at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport in Katsina by President Bola Tinubu.
The former President passed away on Sunday, July 13, 2025, in a London hospital.
Tinubu arrived at the airport from Abuja at 1:42 p.m. and inspected a guard of honor before the Nigerian Air Force plane conveying the remains of his predecessor landed at exactly 1:51 p.m.
Vice President KashimShettima, Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila, Buhari’s widow, Aisha, and other family members accompanied his remains to Nigeria.
Tinubu, accompanied by Shettima, President Umaru Sissoco Embaló of Guinea-Bissau, Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine of Niger, former President Issoufou Mahamadou, and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, received the casket of the late president at the foot of the aircraft.
A joint team of nine senior military pallbearers, including Major-General Mohammed Usman, Major-General Oluwafemi Williams, Major-General Shuaibu Nudu, Rear Admiral Suleiman Dahun, Rear Admiral Jonathan Ajodo, Rear Admiral Samuel Ngatuwa, Air Vice Marshal Adeniyi Herbert Amesinlola, Air Vice Marshal Idi Sanni, and Air Vice Marshal Obinna Obiabaka, coordinated the procession.
The team laid the casket, draped with the Nigerian flag, on a trolley and wheeled it in a slow march, synchronized with the hymn “God Be With You Till We Meet Again.” They passed through a full military guard of honor, comprising six officers and 96 soldiers drawn from the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Tinubu and others walked behind the casket trolley in a solemn procession.
The pallbearers escorted the casket into a waiting military hearse for the one-hour journey to Daura, where funeral prayers and the burial ceremony would take place.
The state funeral featured full military honors, including a 21-gun salute.
