Today Muhammadu Buhari Clocks 72, Wish Him Long Life And Prosperity GENERAL Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd), Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (GCFR) was born on December 17, 1942, in the town of Daura in the former Katsina province of the then Northern Nigeria. He is happily married to Aisha Muhammadu Buhari and has eight children. He attended primary school in Daura and Mai’adua from 1948 to 1952, before proceeding to Katsina Middle School in 1953. He also attended the Katsina Provincial Secondary School (now Government College, Katsina) from 1956 to 1961 and then moved to the Nigerian Military Training School, Kaduna in 1963. In October of the same year, he was sent to the officers’ Cadet School in Aldershot in the United Kingdom and was thereafter commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1963 and posted to the 2nd Infantry Battalion, Abeokuta as Platoon Commander in 1963. From 1963 to 1964, he was sent for further training on the Platoon Commanders’ Course at the Nigerian Military College, Kaduna. In 1965, he went for the Mechanical Transport Officers’ Course at the Army Mechanical Transport School in Borden, England and in 1973, he went to the Defence Services’ Staff College, Wellington, India before he proceeded to the United States Army War College from June 1979 to June 1980. Muhammadu Buhari was Military Governor, North Eastern State of Nigeria, from August 1975 to March 1976, Federal Commissioner for Petroleum Resources from March 1976 to June 1978 and the Chairman, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation from June 1978 to July 1979. He became a Member of the Supreme Military Council from March 1976 to June 1979 and the Military Secretary, Army Headquarters from July 1978 to June 1979, before he assumed the highest office of Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces from December 1983 to August 1985. He later became The Executive Chairman, Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund in 1994. It was during Buhar’s tenure that the Nigerian National Oil Corporation and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources were reorganised to form the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and he became its first Chairman, a job he performed without blemish. He masterminded and spearheaded the construction of 20 oil depots throughout the country, a project involving over 3,200 kilometres of pipelines. Under his leadership, both Warri and Kaduna Refineries were built. He also drew up the blueprint for the country’s petrochemical and liquefied natural gas programmes — all without a hint of scandal. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari launched the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) as a Head of State and the policy won him national and universal applause, as a result of its effectiveness. He became a renowned anti-corruption Czar, as a result of his zero tolerance to corruption, which reduced the menace to its barest minimum while he was Head of State. His practical economic policies reduced inflation from 23 per cent to 4 per cent within 20 months and kept the Naira stronger than the Dollar with an exchange rate of N1 to $1.4. In 2002, Buhari founded a democratic and political movement — The Buhari Organisation, otherwise known as Project Nigeria, which introduced a new concept into Nigerian politics: Service to the people. His thirst for true service to Nigeria dragged him into government, as he registered as a member of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) In 2003, he emerged the presidential candidate of the ANPP and picked former Senate President, the late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo as his running mate. It was at the party’s national convention in Abuja that Okadigbo, who was also an ANPP presidential aspirant, made the statement that “it takes political sagacity to understand political arithmetic.” Buhari contested the presidential election in 2003 and lost to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In 2007, the ANPP was factionalised following the battle of supremacy among the major party stakeholders. Even at that, Bu [truncated by WhatsApp]
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 11:12:07 +0000
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