Muhammadu Buhari, Muhammadu also
spelled Muhammad (born December 17, 1942, Daura,
Nigeria), Nigerian military leader and politician, who served as head of
state in 1984–85 and became president of Nigeria in 2015.
Educated largely in Katsina,
Buhari took military training in Kaduna as well as in Great
Britain, India,
and the United
States. He was involved in the military coup that ousted Yakubu
Gowon in 1975
and was appointed military governor of North Eastern state (now Borno)
that same year. He was appointed federal commissioner for petroleum resources
by Gen. Olusegun
Obasanjo, who became military head of state when Gowon’s
successor, Murtala Mohammed, was assassinated in 1976. By 1977 Buhari had
become the military secretary at Supreme Military Headquarters, which was the
seat of government. By September 1979 he had returned to regular army duties
and commanded a division based in Kaduna. Although civilian government had
returned to Nigeria in 1979 with the election of Shehu
Shagari, dissatisfaction with dismal economic conditions and
what the military perceived as corrupt politicians led to another military coup
on December 31, 1983, and Buhari was chosen unanimously to be the new head of
state.
Many of the economic problems that had existed
under the Shagari administration also plagued the Buhari regime, and Buhari
instituted austerity measures. He took a tough stance on corruption: during his
tenure, hundreds of politicians and business officials were tried and convicted
or awaited trial on corruption-related charges. His regime launched the “War
Against Indiscipline,” a program which sought to promote positive values in
Nigerian society, although authoritarian methods were sometimes used in the
program’s implementation. In an effort to stop dissent against his policies,
Buhari instituted restrictions on the press, political freedoms, and trade
unionists.
Although many Nigerian
citizens had initially welcomed Buhari’s efforts to root out corruption and
improve societal values, the repressive measures employed by his regime, against
a backdrop of continuing economic troubles, led to discontent. By August 1985
even the military had had enough, and on August 27 Maj. Gen. Ibrahim
Babangida took
control of the government. Buhari was detained in Benin City but was released
at the end of 1988.
In 2003 Buhari ran for
president and was defeated by the incumbent, Olusegun
Obasanjo of thePeople’s
Democratic Party (PDP).
Buhari ran again in 2007 but was defeated by the PDP’s candidate,Umaru
Yar’Adua, in an election that was strongly criticized by
international observers as being marred by voting irregularities. Buhari also
stood in the 2011 presidential election, which was praised for largely being
transparent, free, and fair, but he again lost to the PDP’s candidate,
incumbent Goodluck
Jonathan.
In 2014 the All
Progressives Congress (APC) party nominated Buhari to stand as its candidate in
the 2015 presidential election. His reputation for being incorruptible and his
military background made him an attractive candidate, whom many Nigerians hoped
might be able to more effectively handle the threat posed by the Islamic
militant groupBoko
Haram, whose violent acts had terrorized parts of the country
in recent years. The March 28 presidential election had 14 candidates, although
the real contest was seen as being between Buhari and Jonathan, who was again
the PDP’s candidate. In what was Nigeria’s most closely fought election ever,
Buhari garnered the most votes—some 2.5 million more than Jonathan, his closest
competitor—and was declared the winner. His win marked the first time that the
incumbent president had been defeated in Nigeria. Buhari was inaugurated on May
29, 2015.
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