General Muhammadu Buhari means different things to different people. To some, he is an incorruptible administrator. To others, he is a controversial figure. Yet to others, he’s a disciplinarian, who will never tolerate breach of due process.
The retired army officer-turned politician was born on December 17, 1942, in Daura, Katsina State, as the 23rd child of his father, Adamu. With a cult-like following in the North, the former military ruler is a “ folk hero” in northern Nigeria.
Educated at the Kastina Provincial College, Buhari started his military career in the Nigerian Army in 1961. He was trained at Nigerian Military Training College, which is now Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), and Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England.
In January 1963, Buhari was commissioned as second lieutenant, and appointed Platoon Commander of the Second Infantry Battalion in Abeokuta, Nigeria. In the course of his career, Buhari was at various times Commander of the Second Infantry Battalion; Brigade Major, Second Sector, First Infantry Division (April 1967 to July 1967), Brigade Major of the Third Infantry Brigade and Brigade Major/Commandant, 31 Infantry Brigade.
The former Head of State, also served as the Assistant Adjutant-General, First Infantry Division Headquarters; Acting Director, Transport and Supply, Nigerian Army Corps of Supply and Transport Headquarters; Military Secretary, Army Headquarters, and a member of the Supreme Military Council (1978-1979).
Other command positions he held in the army were: General Officer Commanding (GOC) 4th Infantry Division; GOC, 2nd Mechanised Infantry Division; GOC, 3rd Armed Division Nigerian Army.
Buhari’s first main stint in politics was in August 1975, when he was appointed governor of the then North-Eastern State, during the regime of Murtala Muhammed. The defunct North Eastern States comprised of the present day Bauchi, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Yobe and Gombe states.
In March 1976, he was named Federal Commissioner for Petroleum by the then Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo. He was subsequently appointed into the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), when the corporation was established in 1976, a position he held until 1978.
On December 31, Buhari and a group of other military officers seized power after overthrowing the civilian government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, thereby truncating the nation’s democracy. The defining features of the Buhari military administration were the War Against Indiscipline (WAI), campaign that sought to entrench a culture of discipline and orderliness into the Nigerian society; the promulgation of the infamous Decree 2 and Decree 4 of 1984.
While Decree 2 of 1984 empowered the military regime to detain, without charges, individuals deemed to be a security risk to the state for up to three months, Decree 4, sought to protect government officials from false accusations. It was under Decree 4 that Messrs Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor of The Guardian were tried and jailed retroactively.
The Buhari administration was also involved in the saga of clearing 53 suitcases allegedly owned by the Emir of Gwandu that were cleared through customs without inspection on his return flight from Saudi Arabia. His government was also embroiled in a controversy over attempts to bring former Minister of Transportation during the Shagari administration, Alhaji Umaru Dikko, back to the country from London in a crate, allegedly labelled “diplomatic baggage,” before the plot was foiled by British security officers.
On August 27, 1985, Buhari was overthrown by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) and subsequently detained in Benin City, the capital of the present day Edo State.
The former Head of State came into public light again as Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), an interventionist agency, during the regime of late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
In 2003, Buhari threw his hat into the murky waters of Nigerian politics. He contested the 2003 presidential election on the platform of the All Peoples Party (APP) and lost to then President Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In the 2007, general election, he re-contested for the presidency under the platform of his party which at that time had been rechristened All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). Again, he lost to late President Umaru Yar’Adua of the PDP. Incidentally, Buhari and Umar Yar’Adua are both from Kastina State.
Following intractable crisis in the ANPP, the former Head of State left the party in 2010 to form the Congress for Progressive Change(CPC), alongside some of his supporters.
In the 2011 election, Buhari contested for the presidential seat for the third consecutive time, but this time on the platform of his new party, the CPC. Like the two previous elections, he lost to a PDP candidate, this time, President Goodluck Jonathan.
In the 2015 presidential election, the Daura-born retired general contested for the presidential seat for a record fourth time, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), an alliance among his defunct CPC, ANPP and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). He picked the party’s presidential ticket after defeating formidable opponents, like Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku, Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and the publisher of Leadership Newspaper, Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah.
Like in 2011 general election, Buhari squared up again against President Jonathan of the PDP. And this time, the Nigerian voters stood by him and elected president for the next four years starting from May 28, 2016.
