Nigeria’s ex-president Buhari, twice leader of Africa’s most populous nation, dies aged 82

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari speaks to the media after casting his vote in his hometown of Daura, in northern Nigeria, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

LAGOS, Nigeria — LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s former president, Muhammadu Buhari, who led Nigeria twice as a military head of state and a democratic president, has died aged 82, his press secretary said Sunday.

Buhari died in London on Sunday afternoon, where he was receiving medical treatment in recent weeks. When he was elected in 2015, on his fourth attempt, he became the first opposition candidate to win a presidential election.

He led Africa’s most populous nation until 2023, when he was succeeded by Bola Tinubu, also from the All Progressives Congress.

Buhari’s presidency was plagued by extremist killings, a plunging economy, and burgeoning corruption. He faced similar circumstances when he first took power in 1983, after a military coup.

Tinubu dispatched the vice president to bring his body home from London and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff as the country enters a mourning period.

Coming from Nigeria’s largely Muslim north, the lanky, austere Buhari rode on a wave of goodwill off the back of popular anger with the government to be elected president in 2015. He had vowed to end the killings and clean up rampant corruption in one of the continent’s largest economies and oil producers.

However, by the end of his eight-year tenure, that goodwill toward him had faded into discontent. More Nigerians had died as a result of growing insecurity while corruption spread across the government

Ope Adetayo, The Associated Press