Muhammadu Buhari

Biography

Muhammadu Buhari was born in Daura in northern Nigeria in 1942 and went to secondary school in Katsina. He was recruited into the Nigerian Military Training College in 1962, trained at Mons Officer Cadet School in England and was commissioned in 1963. He took part in the July 1966 counter-coup, served in the Nigerian Civil War, and in 1975 was among the officers who brought Murtala Mohammed to power.

Under military rule he governed the North-Eastern State and then Borno State in 1975-1976, and was federal commissioner for petroleum and natural resources and chairman of the new national oil corporation until 1978. He studied at the US Army War College in 1979-1980 and in 1983 drove Chadian forces out of Borno, crossing into Chad against orders.

Buhari became head of state after the coup of 31 December 1983 that ended the Second Republic. His government imposed austerity and the War Against Indiscipline campaign, jailed hundreds of politicians and officials for corruption, restricted the press and detained critics such as Fela Kuti. Ibrahim Babangida overthrew him in August 1985.

After unsuccessful presidential runs in 2003, 2007 and 2011, he won the 2015 election as the All Progressives Congress candidate, the first time a sitting Nigerian president lost at the polls, and was re-elected in 2019, also keeping the petroleum ministry himself. He left office in May 2023 and died in London in July 2025.