President Bola Tinubu on Thursday led an expanded special Federal Executive Council meeting to honour former President Muhammadu Buhari, who died on July 13, 2025, at a London hospital.

The meeting drew an expanded roster of the country’s political branches and the late leader’s family, just two days after his burial in his hometown of Daura.

The meeting, which began at 5:27 p.m. when President Bola Tinubu entered the Council Chamber, had in attendance the late Buhari’s son, Yusuf Buhari, who led three of his siblings into the hall at about 5:15 p.m.

The expanded FEC meeting was also attended by the leadership of the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Judiciary, and representatives of the late former president’s family.

The meeting, which was initially fixed for Tuesday, July 15, 2025, was shifted to Thursday, following the amended burial date.

According to the official order of proceedings circulated to ministers and sighted by our correspondent, tributes in honour of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari were to be delivered in the following sequence:
Senate President Godswill Akpabio; House Speaker Abbas Tajudeen; Chief Justice of Nigeria Kudirat Kekere-Ekun; Nigerian Governors Forum chair and Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq; Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo; Budget and Economic Planning Minister Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Muhammad Ali Pate; Solid Minerals Development Minister Dele Alake; Women Affairs Minister Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim; Works Minister David Umahi; and finally, Yusuf Muhammadu Buhari speaking for the family.

Tinubu, last week, ordered national flags to fly at half-mast across the country and summoned a special FEC meeting in Buhari’s honour as part of full state honours for the former leader.

President Tinubu, who described Buhari as “a patriot, a soldier, and a statesman” whose life was defined by duty and honour, used the occasion to announce that the University of Maiduguri would be renamed in honour of the late leader.

Presiding over the session, President Tinubu celebrated Buhari’s life as one defined by discipline, moral fortitude, and unwavering patriotism. He described him as a decent and honourable man, while acknowledging that Buhari’s record, like all legacies, will be subject to debate. Tinubu insisted that the character he brought to public life, the moral force he carried, and the incorruptible standard he represented will not be forgotten.

He recalled their shared political journey, stressing that their alliance, alongside others drawn from across political and regional divides, led to Nigeria’s first peaceful democratic transfer of power from one ruling party to another in 2015.

He described Buhari’s leadership during that transition as restrained and dignified, noting that he bore the burdens of office without complaint.

President Tinubu then described the renaming of the University of Maiduguri after the fallen hero as a lasting institutional tribute to Buhari’s memory, both symbolic and strategic anchoring his legacy in a region that bore the brunt of insurgency, and where his administration invested heavily in recovery and reconstruction.