Muhammadu Buhari (17 December 1942 – 13 July 2025) was a Nigerian politician who served as the president of nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A major general in the Nigeria army, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985.
Buhari ran for president of Nigeria on the platform and support of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2003 and 2007, and on the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) platform in 2011. In December 2014, he emerged as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress party for the 2015 general election.Buhari won the election, defeating incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. It was the first time in the history of Nigeria that an incumbent president lost a re-election bid. He was sworn in on 29 May 2015. In February 2019, Buhari was re-elected, defeating his closest rival, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, by over 3 million votes.
President buhari early life
Buhari was born to a Muslim familyon 17 December 1942, in Daura now in Katsina State, Nigeria.He was the twenty-third child of Mallam Hardo Adamu, a fula chieftain originally from Dumurkul in mai'adua and Zulaihat.[12] He was named after ninth-century Islamic scholar muhammed al-bukhari. Buhari's great-grandfather, Yusuf, was a businessman. Buhari was four years old when his father died, and Waziri Alhassan, the son of the Emir, Musa dan Nuhu (reigned: 1904–1911), became the guardian of Zulaihat and her six children, including Buhari.
Buhari attended Qur'anic school, where he helped in rearing cattle. He had his primary education in Daura and Mai'Adua, and graduated in 1953. He was admitted into Katsina Middle School (later renamed to Katsina Provincial Secondary School), where he had his secondary education from 1956 to 1961. During his sixth form, he served as the house captain and headboy of the school. In 1960, he was awarded scholarship by the Elder Dempster Lines for a summer visit to the United Kingdom.[16]
Buhari wanted to pursue a medical degree to become a doctor; the only option at the time was to study Pharmacology at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology in Zaria, which would take him many years. He was advised by Mamman Daura to join the Nigerian military and pursue higher education there.
President buhari Military carrer
In 1962, at the age of 19, Buhari was one of 70 boys selected for recruitment into the Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC).In February 1964, NMTC was upgraded to an officer commissioning unit of the Nigerian Army and was renamed Nigerian Defence Academy. From 1962 to 1963, Buhari underwent officer cadet training at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England In January 1963, at the age of 20, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and appointed Platoon Commander of the Second Infantry Battalion in Abeokuta, Nigeria, and attended the Platoon Commanders' Course at the Nigerian Military Training College, Kaduna, Kaduna State, from November 1963 to January 1964. In 1964, he further moved to the Mechanical Transport Officer's Course at the Army Mechanical Transport School in Borden, United Kingdom.[
From 1965 to 1967, Buhari served as commander of the Second Infantry Battalion and was appointed brigade major of the Second Sector, First Infantry Division (April 1967 to July 1967). Following the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état that killed the Premier of Northern Nigeria Ahmadu Bello, Buhari, alongside other officers from Northern Nigeria, took part in the July counter-coup which ousted General Aguiyi Ironsi, replacing him with General Yakubu Gowon.
Buhari was assigned to the 1st Division under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Shuwa. The division had temporarily moved from Kaduna to Makurdi at the onset of the Nigerian Civil War. The 1st division was divided into sectors and battalions, with Shuwa assisted by sector commanders Martin Adamu and Sule Apollo, who was later replaced by Theophilus Danjuma. He first served as the Adjutant and Company Commander 2 battalion unit, Second Sector Infantry of the 1st Division. The 2 battalion was one of the units that participated in the first actions of the war: they started from Gakem near Afikpo and moved towards Ogoja, with support from Gado Nasko's artillery squad.They reached and captured Ogoja, with the intention of advancing through the flanks to Enugu, the capital city.He was briefly the 2 battalion's Commander and led the battalion to Afikpo to merge with the 3rd Marine Commando and advance towards Enugu through Nkalagu and Abakaliki. However, before the move to Enugu, he was posted to Nsukka as Brigade Major of the 3rd Infantry Brigade under Joshua Gin, who was later replaced by Isa Bukar.
From 1970 to 1971, Buhari was Brigade Major/Commandant, Thirty-first Infantry Brigade. He then served as the Assistant Adjutant-General, First Infantry Division Headquarters, from 1971 to 1972. He also attended the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington Cantonment, India, in 1973. From 1974 to 1975 Buhari was acting director of Transport and Supply at the Nigerian Army Corps of Supply and Transport Headquarters.
In the 1975 military coup d'état, Lieutenant Colonel Buhari was among a group of officers that brought General Murtala Mohammed to power. He was later appointed Governor of the North-Eastern State from 1 August 1975 to 3 February 1976, to oversee social, economic and political improvements in the state. On 3 February 1976, the North Eastern State was divided into three states Bauchi, Borno and Gongola. Buhari then became the first Governor of Borno State from 3 February 1976 to 15 March 1976.
In March 1976, following the botched 1976 military coup d'état attempt which led to the assassination of General Murtala Mohammed, his deputy General Olusegun Obasanjo became the military head of state and appointed Colonel Buhari as the Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources (now minister). In 1977, when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was created, Buhari was appointed as its chairman, a position he held until 1978.
During his tenure as the Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources, the government invested in pipelines and petroleum storage infrastructures. The government built about 21 petroleum storage depots all over the country from Lagos to Maiduguri and from Calabar to Gusau; the administration constructed a pipeline network that connected Bonny terminal and the Port Harcourt refinery to the depots. Also, the administration signed the contract for the construction of a refinery in Kaduna and an oil pipeline that would connect the Escravos oil terminal to Warri Refinery and the proposed Kaduna refinery.
Buhari is the predecessor of the incumbent president of nigeria, bola Ahmed tinubu and they both run the same party under all Progressive Congress until his death on 13th of July 2025 in London.
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