Former President Muhammadu Buhari died at 82 in a London hospital on Sunday, closing the chapter on one of the last links to Nigeria’s military-era leadership. His long and complex public life— spanning military and civilian presidents—was marked by discipline, austerity, and contradiction. Revered by some, resented by others, Buhari’s legacy is a contested one: a blend of coups and reforms, stern silence and a rigid conviction that over time estranged him from an evolving nation and an increasingly disillusioned populace.
Muhammadu Buhari was born in December 1942 in Daura, Katsina State, at a time when the British still had a strong colonial hold over Nigeria, with independence still 18 years away. He was raised primarily by his mother as his father died when he was aged 4. Buhari attended primary school in Daura and then boarding school in Katsina after which he was admitted into the Nigerian Military Training College. He joined the British-trained Nigerian army shortly after the country’s independence, training from 1962 – 1963 and swiftly climbing the ranks.
Buhari always spoke fondly of his service in the military, and attributes his strong sense of ‘discipline’ to the corporal punishments and strict routine of life in the barracks.
In 1966, a military coup and bloody counter-coup occurred, resulting in the overthrow of the First Nigerian Republic and the assassination of key political figures which ultimately set the stage for the Biafran War.
Buhari maintained that as a junior military man, he had no significant role in the counter-coup, but less than 10 years later, he rose to become military leader of the North-East region, which at the time was no more than 6 states. Less than a year following this, Buhari, now in his mid-thirties, was promoted again, this time to the role of Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources (essentially, oil minister) in 1967, under General Olusegun Obasanjo’s first term as Nigeria’s Head of State.
By 1978, he had risen to the ranks of colonel, and returned to the Nigerian Army as a military commander with a particularly tough stance on several issues. One instance demonstrating his heavy-handed leadership was his 1983 response to a Chadian force invading and occupying 19 islands on Lake Chad. The Nigerian government headed by Shehu Shagari ordered the deployment of troops from the 3rd Armoured Division of Jos headed by Muhammadu Buhari as the General Officer Commanding (GOC).
The end of 1983 saw another coup which led to the ousting of the democratically elected government of President Shehu Shagari and the installation of Major General Buhari as Nigeria’s Head of State. Similar to his claims regarding the 1966 coup, Buhari maintained that he had no part in the 1983 coup, and was merely installed and subsequently discarded as a figurehead by more powerful officers. Other accounts say he had a bigger role in the coup than he cares to admit.
Buhari’s regime as Head of State, however, was incredibly short lived and lasted only 20 months. During this time, he launched his first campaign against corruption which although lauded by some as an admirable effort, involved several human rights abuses which can be described as a regurgitation of his military upbringing on a mass scale.
This infamous ‘war against indiscipline’ terrorized the entire nation; it involved strict social laws, where citizens could be physically punished for acts as trivial as failing to form neat queues at bus stops under the watchful eyes of menacing soldiers armed with canes. Emphasis was placed on punctuality, and failure of government employees to adhere attracted corporal punishment.
Government clampdown on political dissent was widespread with journalists and political critics — most notably, Fela Kuti being routinely jailed as officers used the Public Officers (Protection Against False Accusation) Decree–popularly known as Decree 4–as a tool to prosecute anybody commenting on government dealings. There was also Decree 2 – the State Security (Detention of Persons Decree] – which was used by the Buhari regime to indiscriminately arrest hundreds of politicians, former government officials, and businessmen on corruption charges.
His regime as Head of State also highlighted his eccentric approach to economic growth; he tried to rebalance public finances by reducing imports and ordered a change in the color of the Naira notes, giving citizens a ridiculously short amount of time to obtain new notes from the bank. Prices rose, standards of living fell and an economic crisis which, interestingly, would be replicated during his democratic tenure was prevalent during this time due to his ill-informed policies.
Buhari’s regime as Head of State came to an abrupt end in a coup led by his Chief of Army Staff, General Ibrahim Babangida in August 1985 after which he was jailed for 40 months. He did not return to national prominence until 1994 when he was appointed Executive Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund by the Abacha regime.
Following this appointment and in the aftermath of the Soviet Union breakdown, Buhari claimed to have seen the virtues of multiparty democracy and decided to join party politics.
He first contested for presidency in 2003 under the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), but lost to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Olusegun Obasanjo.
Not deterred by this loss, he ran again for presidency in 2007 against another PDP candidate, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. In the disputed 2007 presidential elections, Buhari polled just 18% of voters to Yar’Adua’s 70% thus losing by a wide margin. Despite rejecting the results of the election, Buhari watched as Yar’Adua’s government was peacefully sworn in.
In 2010, Buhari left ANPP and co-founded the congress for Progressive Change (CPC) which although fairly new and lacking structure, made a strong showing at the 2011 polls. Buhari managed to pull over 12 million voters, second only to PDP’s Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who won the elections with 22.4 million votes. He had managed to build a strong political image and narrative for himself, bolstered by his military inspired ‘integrity’ and ‘discipline’, resonating strongly with the urban and rural poor in the North who made up the vast majority of his supporters.
In 2015, amidst public dissatisfaction with the ruling party’s administration and a historic opposition merger that birthed the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari became the first opposition candidate to defeat an incumbent since the return of multiparty democracy in 1999. He unseated President Goodluck Jonathan, making history in the process. With ‘change’ as his watchword, Buhari’s seminal campaign promise was a crusade against corruption and dogged dedication to curbing youth unemployment; but by the end of his first term, what most stood out was the hunger which was rife throughout the country— notoriously marked by an alarming hike in the cost of a bag of rice. When Buhari came into office in 2015, a 50kg bag of rice cost about 7,500 naira. After a few years under his governance, the same quantity of rice had soared to a whooping 60,000 naira, primarily due to the replication of his detrimental economic policies, reminiscent of his military era eccentricities which saw him ban the importation of certain goods in an attempt to increase productivity within the country.
Buhari’s second and final term which began in 2019 was memorable for a number of reasons including economic hardship, worrying levels of insecurity and his chilling nonchalance in the face of numerous national crises—most notably, his response to the monumental 2020 #ENDSars protests which although slow and dismissive at first quickly escalated to a heavy-handed ambush that alienated an entire generation. His tolerance for criticism wasn’t much higher than it was during his military rule, and according to reports, nearly 200 journalists were arrested during his eight-year term in office, one of several markers of his attempts to shrink political discourse and squash dissent.
Between 2022 and 2023, towards the end of his term, his evident disinterest in the country’s governance was at its most glaring. It was the first time a sitting president appeared totally unperturbed by the question of who would succeed him as president.
Openly, he declared support for whomever the ruling party (APC) nominated for the ticket, but insider reports stated that he really had little interest in the matter, having achieved his own lifelong ambition of being president. At one point, he even appeared to oppose the candidacy of his eventual successor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, through his administration’s declaration of a ‘naira swap’ policy also reminiscent of his military era policy involving a change in the design of the naira, aimed at reducing the use of money for corrupt interference in the 2023 elections. Again, this policy was unsuccessful and led to a ‘naira scarcity’ which put the poorest citizens at a disadvantage. The policy was only suspended after a Supreme Court ruling, days before the election.
Another notable feature of his presidency was his long absences caused by declining health which he went to great lengths to keep under wraps, completely eschewing the transparency he owed his constituents.
In the end, Buhari’s presidency was defined as much by absence as by presence, by policies that often harked back to a bygone era, and by a seeming detachment that left many Nigerians feeling unheard. His final years in office were marked by economic strain, growing insecurity, and a controversial naira redesign that echoed his military-era decisions, culminating in widespread public frustration. Yet, despite the criticism and contradictions, Muhammadu Buhari remains a central figure in Nigeria’s post-independence history. A symbol, for some, of integrity and discipline, and for others, of missed opportunities and unfulfilled promises.
0 Comments
Add your own hot takes