Femi Adesina, former presidential spokesperson, has revealed the last words president Buhari told him while interviewing him.
In a personal tribute titled “Why Should One Be Sad About an 82-Year-Old Man?”, Adesina recalled a quiet moment in March 2023, two months before Buhari left office, when the retired general seemed to foresee his end.
According to Adesina, the conversation took place during a one-on-one interview session for his book Working with Buhari. As they wrapped up, he asked the former president what he looked forward to after leaving power.
“I’m looking forward to leaving. And from there, I go to my grave at the appointed time,” Buhari calmly replied.
Adesina said the statement stunned him.
He described it as a hauntingly casual reference to death from a man who had faced both political battles and life-threatening illness.
“The appointed time came on Tuesday [July 13, 2025], but I must confess that I was shocked at the casual way the President had talked about going to his grave,” Adesina wrote.
“Wasn’t he fazed by the prospect? Did it not scare him? And I said to myself; this man, he neither fears life nor death. He seems so sure of his God.”
President Buhari, aged 82, died in London after what was officially described as a routine medical trip that lasted nearly four months.
His body was flown back to Nigeria and buried at his private residence in Daura, Katsina State.
“So, Baba Buhari, my boss and senior friend, would be laid in this narrow cell? Well, it’s a lot of mortals. Doomed to die. All mortals must go one day,” Adesina wrote.