Muhammadu Buhari

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Muhammadu Buhari (born December 17, 1942) was a military ruler of Nigeria (December 31, 1983 - August 27, 1985) and an unsuccessful candidate for president in the April 19, 2003 Presidential Elections. His ethnic background is Fulani and his faith is Islam; his family is from Katsina State.

Major-General Buhari and Major-General Tunde Idiagbon were selected to lead the country by middle and high ranking military officers after a successful military coup d'etat that overthrew civilian President Shehu Shagari on December 31, 1983. Buhari was appointed Head of State and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, and Idiagbon was appointed Chief of General Staff (the defacto #2 in the administration). Buhari justified the military's seizure of power by castigating the civilian government as hopelessly corrupt, and his administration subsequently initiated a public campaign against indiscipline known as "War Against Indiscipline" (WAI). Despite authoritarian tendencies, the campaign is still lauded as many to have instilled the most orderly conduct of public and private affairs in Nigeria since its independence in 1960.

Buhari and Idiagbon's administration was initially popular with the majority of Nigerians. However, this support quickly ebbed away as Buhari resorted to ever more severe methods to stifle criticism of his government, including the issuing of the State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No. 2, which gave the government the right to detain indefinitely without trial any persons it regarded as being a threat to the nation, and the Public Officers (Protection Against False Accusation) Decree No. 4, which essentially criminalized any criticism of government officials in the press. Buhari was himself overthrown in a coup led by General Ibrahim Babangida on August 27, 1985 and other members of the ruling Supreme Military Council (SMC) ostensibly, because he insisted on investigating allegations of fraudulent award of contracts in the Ministry of Defence (Please refer to Gen. Chris Alli's memoir - The Republic of Nigerian Army). If that investigation had been carried through, it is believed that many senior military officers would have been implicated.

In 2003, Buhari contested the Presidential election as the candidate of the All Nigeria People's Party. He was defeated by the Peoples Democratic Party nominee, President Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ, by a margin of more than eleven million votes. Although there were allegations of fraud, the general consensus among Commonwealth observers was that the result was so decisive that fraud, on either side, would not have substantially affected it.

Buhari is the only former leader of Nigeria since Nnamdi Azikiwe who was never suspected of corruption.

Preceded by Shehu Shagari

Chairman of the Supreme Military Council of Nigeria December 31, 1983 – August 27, 1985

Succeeded by Ibrahim Babangida

Heads of State of Nigeria
Nnamdi Azikiwe • Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi* • Yakubu Gowon* • Murtala Mohammed* • Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ* • Shehu Shagari • Muhammadu Buhari* • Ibrahim Babangida* • Ernest Shonekan*† • Sani Abacha* • Abdulsalami Abubakar* • Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ *military     †interim