Some residents in Borno on Sunday mourned former President Muhammadu Buhari who died in London.
Buhari passed away at the age of 82, according to his family through a statement issued by his former spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports
under Buhari’s eight years as President from 2015 to 2023, 23 local government areas in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, and Gombe were officially declared “liberated” from Boko Haram insurgents.
Residents remembered how Borno towns once under militant control witnessed a steady return of relative peace.
Ibrahim Kachallah, a resident told NAN that over two million IDPs were resettled back to their homes following relative peace restoration under President Muhammadu Buhari.
Kachallah said late Buhari equally approved the construction of over 10,000 houses for IDPs who lost their homes.
Babagana Goni, who expressed the similar feelings, said key among his developmental legacies in the region was the Maiduguri Emergency Power Project, a 50 MW gas‑fired plant commissioned on March 2, 2023, jointly built by NNPC Ltd., GE, and China Machinery Engineering Company.
He said that Maiduguri and its environs had been in darkness for over one year due to attacks by Boko Haram on power holding facilities.
“These efforts transformed Maiduguri’s energy landscape.
“Before, the night was darker than the siege,” reflected Halima Musa, a small‑scale rice farmer near Zabarmari, in Jere.”
Another local, Ahmed Japhet, lauded Buhari’s insurgency campaign:
“He gave us timber after years of terror. Twenty‑three LGAs in Borno were freed. I lost friends, families and relatives to Boko Haram; that freedom mattered.”
Fatima Bulama, a Borno‑based teacher said Buhari initiated several empowerment programs for the youths and farming communities.
“The anchor Borrower had provided a lifeline for several families during his tenure,” she said.
“He came, saw our darkness, and lit a path, not just lamps. He gave hope to all of us,” she said.
Abdulrahman Chiroma, said that Muhammadu Buhari first held power from 1983 to 1985 as a military Head of State.
“He returned (to power) democratically in 2015, heralding himself as an anti‑corruption crusader wielding a broom as a symbol of reform and was notably the first opposition candidate to topple an incumbent .
“Yet his legacy was mixed: though under him Boko Haram was technically defeated in 2016. Despite the successes, insecurity persisted.
Shehu Umar, a trader in Maiduguri said: “He arrived in our darkest hour and left footprints in our soil.(NAN)
