The Profile of the Visitor, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR

President Muhammadu Buhari,?GCFR?was born on December 17, 1942 in Daura,
Katsina. He is the twenty-third child of his father. Buhari was raised by his
mother, after his father died when he was about four years old.?He is a
retired?Nigerian Army?Major General?and was Head of State of?Nigeria?from
December 31, 1983 to?August 27, 1985.
He attended primary school in Daura and Mai’adua before proceeding to the
Katsina Model School in 1953, and Katsina Provincial Secondary School (now
Government College Katsina) from 1956 to 1961. He then joined the Nigerian
Military Training School in Kaduna, where his military career began.
Buhari joined the?Nigerian Army?in 1961, when he attended the?Nigerian
Military Training College, it was renamed the Nigerian Defence Academy
in?Kaduna. From 1962 to 1963, he underwent Officer Cadets Training at Mons
Officer Cadet School?in?Aldershot, England.
In January 1963, Buhari was commissioned as Second Lieutenant, and appointed
Platoon Commander of the Second Infantry Battalion in?Abeokuta,?Nigeria. From
November 1963 to 1975, the Visitor attended several military courses and
trainings both at home and abroad. He had also held many posts at different
military installations. He was also Military Secretary at the Army Headquarters
from 1978 to 1979 and member of the Supreme Military Council from 1978 to 1979.
From 1979 to 1980, at the rank of Colonel, Buhari (class of 1980) attended
the?United States Army War College?in?Carlisle, Pennsylvania and obtained
a?Masters Degree?in?Strategic Studies.?
In August 1975, the Head of State, General Muritala Muhammed appointed him the
military governor of the old North Eastern State comprising the present day
Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Taraba, Adamawa and Gombe states to oversee social,
economic and political improvements in the states.
In March 1976, the Head of State, General?Olusegun Obasanjo, appointed Buhari
as the Federal Commissioner (position now called Minister) for Petroleum and
Natural Resources. When the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was created
in 1976, Buhari was also appointed as its Chairman, a position he held until
1978. In 1983, when Chadian forces invaded Nigeria in Borno State, Buhari led
the forces under his command to chase them out of the country, crossing into the
Chadian territory.
As Head of State between 1983 and 1985, President Buhari started to rebuild the
nation’s social-political and economic systems, along the realities of Nigeria’s
austere economic conditions. The rebuilding included removing or cutting back
the excesses in national expenditure, obliterating or removing completely,
corruption from the nation’s social ethics, shifting from mainly public sector
employment to self-employment. Buhari also encouraged import substitution and
industrialisation based largely on the use of local materials and he tightened
importation.?
One of the most enduring legacies of the Buhari government has been the War
Against Indiscipline (WAI). Launched on March 20, 1984, the policy tried to
address the perceived lack of public morality and civic responsibility of the
Nigerian society. Unruly Nigerians were often ordered to form neat queues at bus
stops.?
Gen. Buhari also served as the Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), a
body created by the government of General?Sani Abacha, and funded from the
revenue generated as a result of an increase in price of petroleum products, to
pursue developmental projects around the country.?
In 2003, Gen. Buhari ran for office in the?presidential election as the
candidate of the?All Nigeria Peoples