Muhammadu Buhari, the former president of Nigeria who led the country as both a military ruler after a coup and later as the elected president, has died at the age of 82, his family said.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, who has died age 82 in a London clinic, was a former military ruler and self-styled converted democrat who returned to power through elections but struggled to convince Nigerians he could deliver on the change he promised.

Muhammadu Buhari, who left office in 2023 after serving two terms, made Nigerian political history as the first opposition candidate to defeat a sitting president at the ballot box. The rake-thin 82-year-old Muslim from the far north of Africa's most populous nation made political history as the first opposition candidate to defeat a sitting leader at the ballot box in 2015.