Sowore’s comment on Buhari sparks debate

Human rights activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has described attempts to paint late former President Muhammadu Buhari as a saint who meant well for Nigeria as an insult to Nigerians.

Sowore who was reacting to a public presentation of a 600-page book titled ‘From Soldier to Statesman: The Legacy of Muhammadu Buhari’, written by Dr Charles Omole, a Director General of the Institute for Police and Security Policy Research (IPSPR), in Abuja on Monday, said idolizing a man who inflicted so much suffering on Nigerians was the worst form of hypocrisy.

In the book, Omole explains that Buhari was misunderstood by Nigerians who viewed his silence as indifference, but it was actually a calculated security decision based on intelligence reports at the time.

But in a scathing post on his X handle on Tuesday, Sowore took a swipe at the author, whom he said is attempting to hoodwink Nigerians into believing that Buhari meant well for the country

“It is an insult to Nigerians that at a time when people are still reeling from the devastation of Muhammadu @MBuhari’s disastrous reign, marked by mass killings, egregious violation of human rights, bigotry, corruption, and staggering incompetence, anyone would choose to add insult to injury by attempting to celebrate him,” he wrote.

“Nigerians who endured the suffering inflicted by his administration know the depth of the damage. To glorify that legacy now is not just insensitive; it is an affront to a nation still struggling, and in many ways unable, to recover,” he added.

Several commenters under the post also shared the same sentiment as a majority of them supported his assertion that Buhari was indeed a disaster during his regime.

First to fire the salvo was @Rapuruchi who wrote:

“We will never forget the atrocities committed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in Southeastern Nigeria. He authorized Operation Python Dance I and II, which led to extrajudicial executions by federal troops. Many innocent people were killed, others were abducted, and some still remain in detention. To date, the Southeast remains heavily militarized with numerous security checkpoints. Buhari really dealt with us.

Others also followed the same pattern of criticism:

@KanoBlog: “This is not about hatred or disrespect; it is about truth and collective memory. You cannot whitewash pain with book launches and photo-ops. Millions of Nigerians lived through insecurity, economic hardship, shrinking freedoms, and institutional decay under that administration. Celebrating such a legacy while the wounds are still open is deeply insensitive. History belongs to the people, and no amount of revisionism can erase lived experiences.”

@Xpress: “Calling this a “legacy” mocks the pain Nigerians are still living with. You don’t celebrate failure, bloodshed, and broken institutions while the wounds are still open. For millions, this isn’t history, it’s an ongoing struggle.”

@SmartEko2050: “Celebrating Buhari’s legacy is proof that collective amnesia is Nigeria’s biggest disease. You can’t rewrite history with ceremonies when graves, poverty, and insecurity still tell the truth. Only those untouched by the blood, hunger, and fear of that era can afford to celebrate it.”

@KingPrince: “The earlier we throw away sentiment and stand for the truth the better for all. Buhari with so much disregard for human rights, No respect for institutions, a man who could not control his appointees, a man whose under his watch it was a free for all show for his staff? Anybody painting Buhari otherwise is maad and God will punish him or her. We don’t have short memories we will always remember.”

@Bokolistic: “These polithiefcians have looked at Nigerians and seen that they’re all mouths, no action. That’s the only reason they will have the temerity to “celebrate” the man who indeed brought Nigeria to it’s knees.”

@Hodde: “He’s a statesman ONLY to Nigerian politicians, especially the APC. As long as the real Nigeria is concerned, he was just a man that oversaw one of the greatest events of nepotism, corruption, terrorism, lawlessness, genocide, and impunity in the world.”

@ComradeKunte: “There is nothing to celebrate in Muhammadu Buhari, a man who should have remained a simple minded religious bigot, and cattle herder. Ushering him in to the highest office in the land was the single most disastrous event in Nigeria’s presidential history then.”

@AzuUchenna: “Former president Buhari @MBuhari was and remains the worst President ever in the history of Our country Nigeria, He was a terrorist sympathizer and enabler, He failed in His area as a GCFR, I wish Him all the worst after life offers.”

@Chikazondu: “Trying to whitewash a legacy that oversaw the Lekki massacre, the Zaria killings, & the shooting of unarmed IPOB supporters in 2016 is the ultimate insult. This legacy is a celebration of state failure & impunity.”

@Osefranklin: “No matter how they try to sugarcoat it, posterity will never be kind to those who commit homicide, sponsor terr-orism and sacrifice their countrymen on the grounds of religion and politics.”

@KingPrince: “These people no rate us at all if not while (sic) will reasonable people want to celebrate a man who threw Nigeria 20 years back with all forms of rubbish policies and archaic thinking.”

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