Yusuf Buhari, son of late former President Muhammadu Buhari, has offered a rare and emotional insight into how life changed for his family after they exited the corridors of power, revealing how influence once attracted overwhelming attention that vanished almost overnight.
In a reflective account, Yusuf recalled the period immediately after former President Goodluck Jonathan phoned his father to concede defeat and congratulate him on winning the 2015 presidential election. According to him, that single moment marked the beginning of an avalanche of attention.
“After Goodluck Jonathan made that call to my dad to congratulate him on his victory as Nigeria’s next President, I used to receive up to 2,000 calls a day from different people,” he said.
He explained that the calls would start as early as 4 a.m., coming from virtually every corner of his past and present life.
“The calls would start coming in as early as 4 a.m. — from old classmates, acquaintances, extended family relatives, former maids, and servants who had once worked for the Buhari family at some point,” Yusuf disclosed.
He added that many of the callers offered vague or questionable reasons for reaching out, forcing his assistant to step in.
“There were also callers with bogus, untraceable explanations, but my assistant would simply come up with polite excuses to end those conversations quickly,” he said.
However, Yusuf noted that the attention sharply declined once his father completed his tenure and handed over power to President Bola Tinubu.
“But the moment my dad left power and handed the baton to His Excellency Bola Tinubu, the calls dropped dramatically to about 100 a day,” he stated.
The decline became even more pronounced following the burial of the former president.
“After my dad was buried, they reduced even further to around 20 daily — usually just from siblings and business associates,” Yusuf revealed.
Reflecting on the experience, he lamented the fleeting nature of power and public loyalty.
“The phones no longer ring. Nobody truly cares,” he said.
Yusuf Buhari’s account has since sparked conversations about the realities of political power in Nigeria, the transactional nature of influence, and how quickly public attention fades once authority is gone.
