LAGOS, Nigeria 

The immediate past president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, died in London at age 82.

The family of the former leader announced his death on Sunday through a statement by his spokesperson Garba Shehu. According to Shehu, he died in “a clinic in London.”

Born on Dec. 17, 1942, the late ex-president was one of the leaders of the military coup of December 1983 that overthrew the Second Nigerian Republic. At the time of the coup plot, Buhari was the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Third Armored Division of Jos.

With the successful execution of the coup by Buhari, Tunde Idiagbon was appointed Chief of General Staff (the de facto No. 2 in the administration). The coup ended Nigeria's short-lived Second Republic, a period of multi-party democracy revived in 1979, after 13 years of military rule.

Before becoming a civilian president, Buhari ran for president of Nigeria on the platform and support of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2003 and 2007, and on the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) platform in 2011.

In December 2014, he emerged as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party for the 2015 general election, which he won. He defeated the then-incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. It was the first time in the history of Nigeria that an incumbent president lost a reelection bid.

Buhari was sworn in on May 29, 2015, and was reelected in February 2019, defeating his closest rival, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, by over three million votes.

He handed over power to the current president, Bola Tinubu, on May 29, 2023.