Ibrahim Gambari, former Chief of Staff to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, has dismissed claims that the late president sought to impose a successor ahead of the 2023 general election, noting that the late president did not believe in ‘anointed successor’ while in office.

Gambari disclosed this on Monday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, adding that the former president believed leadership choices should be determined by party processes and the electorate.

“He did not believe in anointed successors,” Gambari said.

He also revealed that the inability to fully resolve Nigeria’s insecurity remained the former leader’s greatest regret at the end of his presidency, noting that while Buhari acknowledged progress in the fight against Boko Haram, persistent violence in other regions weighed heavily on him.“One of the things that troubled him most was that he could not do more to address the security situation before leaving office,” Gambari said.

According to him, Buhari drew some reassurance from the fact that no part of Nigeria’s territory remained under Boko Haram control during his tenure, describing it as one of the administration’s major security achievements.

“He took comfort in the fact that Nigeria did not lose any territory to Boko Haram,” he added.

However, Gambari said the continued rise of banditry and violent attacks in the North-West and parts of the North-Central regions remained a source of deep concern to the former president.

“The situation in the North-West, the North-Central, especially banditry, pained him greatly. He felt he had done everything possible, yet the problem persisted,” Gambari said, adding that Buhari once reflected that “perhaps the foundation was not strong enough.”

Responding to reports of coup threats toward the end of Buhari’s administration, Gambari said he was not aware of any such intelligence reaching his office.

“The president had multiple sources of information. While the chief of staff is a principal channel, he is not the only one. I was not privy to any coup-related threat,” he said. Gambari described Buhari as a leader who maintained close ties with the military while operating strictly within constitutional limits, despite having ruled Nigeria previously as a military head of state.

Buhari served as Nigeria’s civilian president from 2015 to 2023, after earlier ruling as military head of state between 1983 and 1985. He died on July 13, 2025, at the age of 82, following a prolonged illness.