THE MAN BUHARI Born on December 17 , 1942, Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani from Daura in Katsina State , served in the Nigerian Army between 1962 and August 27, 1985 when he retired as a Major General. He was the head of the Third Armored Division of the Nigerian Army on December 31, 1983 , when his colleagues, after a successful military coup d ’ etat that overthrew the civilian President Shehu Shagari , selected him to be the country ’ s Head of State and Commander- In- Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. Since then , Buhari has become a factor in Nigerian politics and leadership . His uncompromising attitude has placed him , precariously though , at a point where he is so avidly hated by his critics and so passionately loved and adored by his supporters who describe him as the country ’ s political messiah of some sort. This is primarily because as soon as he took office as military Head of State in 1983, Buhari, and his second in command, the late Major - General Tunde Idiagbon , justified their seizure of power by reprimanding the civilian government of Shagari and describing it as exceedingly corrupt . Their response was to launch a popular “ War Against Indiscipline ( WAI ) campaign, through which they attempted to set a new road -map for the country ’ s politics , introducing strict economic and political policies that have been described by some intellectuals as ‘ Buharism.” Like anything Buhari, the unique economic measure his short- lived government introduced was also passionately commended and criticized. It would be recalled that in spite of the harsh economic realities of the time, Buhari rejected IMF loan and refused to adopt the IMF conditionality to devalue the Naira . While his critics blamed him then for resultant job losses, closure of some businesses and a decline in living standards , his admirers commended him for adopting unique economic measures that enabled his government to reduce inflation, curb imports of needless goods and curtail crude oil theft. So , even though Buhari was overthrown on August 27, 1985 in a coup led by General Ibrahim Babangida , he has not ceased to be a factor in the country ’ s politics . This is even so as he has repeatedly sought to become a democratically elected President since 2003 when he first contested as the presidential candidate of All Nigeria Peoples Party ( ANPP) and was defeated by the Peoples Democratic Party ’ s candidate , General Olusegun Obasanjo . Since then , the retired general has never failed to contest in any presidential election in the country . In the April 2007 election , he also flew the flag of ANPP . For the April 16, 2011 , he was the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change ( CPC) and polled 12,214 , 853 votes in a presidential election that featured 20 contestants . Today, as Buhari prepares to fly the flag of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) in the 2015 presidential election, many are keen to know whether it would be fourth time lucky for the general .
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 06:50:00 +0000
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