Senate President Godswill Akpabio has lauded the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, describing him as a leader who served Nigeria without embezzling the nation’s treasury.

Akpabio made the remarks on Thursday at an expanded Federal Executive Council meeting held in Abuja in honour of Buhari.

The President of the Senate noted that even the former president’s critics would concede that he did not misappropriate public funds while in office.

He said, “Let us be honest, he was tough. He was a soldier who did not flinch under fire, a leader who did not flee from responsibility, and above all, a Nigerian whose loyalty to this nation was never up for sale.

“His toughness was born not out of pride but of a patriotism, a fierce, unrelenting belief that Nigeria, with all its challenges, was still worth fighting for. And yet some disagree with him.

“That is the nature of democracy. But even his fiercest critics will admit that he did not pilfer the nation’s boss, nor pander to its pleasures to the very end.”

Present at the special FEC meeting were members of the National Assembly leadership, ministers, governors, and the children of the late leader, led by his son, Yusuf.

The former Governor of Akwa Ibom State further stated that Buhari sought duty when others sought glory, describing him as a leader who did not flee from challenges.

“President Buhari did not merely pass through the corridors of power; he left his boots and imprints in them. He believed that discipline mattered, that integrity mattered, that leadership, even when lonely, must be anchored on something greater than power,” he added.

UGAMATV reports that Buhari served as military Head of State between 1983 and 1985 and as a civilian president for eight years, from 2015 to 2023.

He died on Sunday at a clinic in London at the age of 82 and was buried in his hometown, Daura, Katsina State.