Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari GCFR (ⓘ; born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023.[2][3] A retired Nigerian army major general, he served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985, after taking power from the Shehu Shagari civilian government in a military coup d'état.[4][5] The term Buharism is used to describe the authoritarian policies of his military regime.[6][7]
Muhammadu Buhari
Himself
Bola Tinubu
Murtala Mohammed
Olusegun Obasanjo
Office established
Murtala Mohammed
Office abolished
17 December 1942
Daura, Northern Region, British Nigeria
(now in Katsina, Nigeria)
All Progressives Congress (2013–present)
- All Nigeria Peoples Party (2002–2010)
- Congress for Progressive Change (2010–2013)
- Muhammadu Ribadu (grandfather-in-law)
- Mamman Daura (nephew)
- Zulaihat (deceased)
- Fatima
- Musa (deceased)
- Hadiza
- Safinatu
- Halima
- Yusuf
- Zahra "Zarah"
- Aisha
- Amina
- Politician
- military officer
1962–1985
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.[8] In December 2014, he emerged as the presidential candidate of[9] the All Progressives Congress party for the 2015 general election.[10] Buhari won the election, defeating incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.[11] This was the first time in the history of Nigeria that an incumbent president lost a general election. He was sworn in on 29 May 2015. In February 2019, Buhari was re-elected, defeating his closest rival, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, by over 3 million votes.[12][13][14]
Early life[edit]
Muhammadu Buhari was born to a Fulani family[15] on 17 December 1942, in Daura, a town in Katsina State, Nigeria. His father was called Mallam Hardo Adamu, a Fulani chieftain from Dumurkul in Mai'Adua, and his mother, whose name was Zulaihat, had Hausa and Kanuri ancestry.[16][17] He is the twenty-third-(23) child of his father and was named after ninth-century Persian Islamic scholar Muhammad al-Bukhari.[18] Buhari was raised by his mother; he was about four years old when his father died. He attended primary school in Daura and Mai'adua, in 1953, Katsina Middle School, and attended Katsina Provincial Secondary School in Katsina State from 1956 to 1961 where he earned his West African School Certificate. Buhari went to the Nigerian Military Training School, Kaduna in 1963.[19][20]
Head of State (1983–1985)[edit]
Consolidation of power[edit]
The structure of the new military leadership—the fifth in Nigeria since independence—resembled the last military regime, the Obasanjo/Yaradua administration. The new regime established a Supreme Military Council, a Federal Executive Council and a Council of States.[51] The number of ministries was trimmed to 18, while the administration carried out a retrenchment exercise among the senior ranks of the civil service and police. It retired 17 permanent secretaries and some senior police and naval officers. In addition, the new military administration promulgated new laws to achieve its aim. These laws included the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Decree for the prosecution of armed robbery cases, and the State Security (Detention of Person) Decree, which gave powers to the military to detain individuals suspected of jeopardizing state security or causing economic adversity.[52] Other decrees included the Civil Service Commission and Public Offenders Decree, which constituted the legal and administrative basis to conduct a purge in the civil service.[52]
According to Decree Number 2 of 1984, the state security and the chief of staff were given the power to detain, without charges, individuals deemed to be a security risk to the state for up to three months.[53] Strikes and popular demonstrations were banned and Nigeria's security agency, the National Security Organization (NSO) was entrusted with unprecedented powers. The NSO played a wide role in the cracking down of public dissent by intimidating, harassing and jailing individuals who broke the interdiction on strikes. By October 1984, about 200,000 civil servants were retrenched.[54] Buhari mounted an offensive against entrenched interests. In 20 months as Head of State, about 500 politicians, officials and businessmen were jailed for corruption during his stewardship.[55][56] Detainees were released after releasing sums to the government and agreeing to meet certain conditions. The regime also jailed its critics, including Fela Kuti.[57] He was arrested on 4 September 1984 at the airport as he was about to embark on an American tour. Amnesty International described the charges brought against him for illegally exporting foreign currency as "spurious". Using the wide powers bestowed upon it by Decree Number 2, the government sentenced Fela to five years in prison. He was released after 18 months,[57] when the Buhari regime was overthrown.
In 1984, Buhari passed Decree Number 4, the Protection Against False Accusations Decree,[58] a wide-ranging repressive press law. Section 1 of the law provided that "Any person who publishes in any form, whether written or otherwise, any message, rumour, report or statement [...] which is false in any material particular or which brings or is calculated to bring the Federal Military Government or the Government of a state or public officer to ridicule or disrepute, shall be guilty of an offense under this Decree".[59] The law further stated that offending journalists and publishers will be tried by an open military tribunal, whose ruling would be final and unappealable in any court and those found guilty would be eligible for a fine not less than 10,000 naira and a jail sentence of up to two years.[60]
Pre-presidency (1985–2015)[edit]
Civilian life[edit]
In December 1988, after his mother's death he was released and retired to his residence in Daura. While in detention, his farm was managed by his relatives. He divorced his first wife in 1988 and married Aisha Halilu.[1] In Katsina, he became the pioneer chairman of Katsina Foundation that was founded to encourage social and economic development in Katsina State.
Buhari served as the Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), a body created by the government of General Sani Abacha, and funded from the revenue generated by the increase in price of petroleum products, to pursue developmental projects around the country. A 1998 report in New African praised the PTF under Buhari for its transparency, calling it a rare "success story".[80]
Post-presidency (2023–present)[edit]
Buhari handed over power peacefully to his successor Bola Tinubu on 29 May 2023 at 10AM (WAT) at an inauguration ceremony in Eagle Square, Federal Capital Territory. He left the seat of power in Abuja immediately after the handover ceremony and in keeping with the tradition of past heads of state and presidents returned to his home state of Katsina where he was received by state and traditional dignitaries before evidently retiring to his farm and family seat in Daura.[207]
