President Bola Tinubu has announced that the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) in Borno State will now be known as Muhammadu Buhari University, Maiduguri, in honour of the late former president.
The renaming was made public on Thursday during an expanded session of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The special meeting was convened as part of tributes to Buhari, who passed away in London on July 13, 2025, following a prolonged illness.
“Before we take the prayers in honour of his memory, with this special session of the Federal Executive Council (expanded) can we adopt the naming of the University of Maiduguri with a new name Muhammadu Buhari University, Maiduguri,” President Tinubu declared to a round of applause from council members, former ministers, and Buhari’s son, Yusuf, who were present.
In his tribute, Tinubu praised Buhari’s enduring legacy, describing him as a man of quiet strength and moral clarity.
“It was in the quiet and unadorned settings of his private life that his true greatness was revealed pious without show, just without cruelty, humane without sentimentality, temperate without coldness, and sincere without guile,” Tinubu said.
“Steady in posture and spirit, dignified in bearing, and commanding by his very presence, his example guided all who encountered him. Still, it endures,” the president added.
He described Buhari’s character as a source of inspiration, stating that “his life was a rebuke to vice and a refuge for virtue. The purity of his private character gave radiance to the discipline and integrity of his public service.”
Buhari, who was buried on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, in Daura, Katsina State, was Nigeria’s second-longest-serving leader. His funeral drew high-profile attendees, including President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and several state governors.
Born in Katsina, Muhammadu Buhari first came to power as Nigeria’s military head of state from 1983 to 1985, and later returned to office as a democratically elected president, serving two terms from 2015 to 2023.
