Former presidential media spokesman Femi Adesina has explained why Northerners popularly referred to the late former President Muhammadu Buhari as “Mai Gaskiya,” meaning “the honest one.”
Adesina disclosed that Buhari never touched public funds despite holding several high profile offices during his lifetime.
He made the remark in a lengthy article to mark Buhari’s 83th posthumous birthday.
Adesina said Buhari would have clocked 83 years old on December 17, 2025, but died five months earlier on July 13, 2025.
However, Adesina recalled an interaction with the former Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, who affirmed Buhari’s honesty.
“The day the Petroleum Industry Bill was to be signed into law, I was conversing with the then Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari. And he told me he had never seen anyone like Buhari.
“He has never sent a note to me through anyone that I should do that person a favor, or give money. An amazing person.” Many heads of agencies and parastatals under him have the same testimony.
“And that was how he was all his life. He would never touch public money, despite all the positions he held. No wonder the average northerner dubbed him Mai Gaskiya (the honest one). He was frugal to a fault. Simply incorruptible,” he said.