Top 13 facts about Buhari at 81
As he marks his 81st birthday on Sunday December 17th, roughly six months after the completion of his two terms as President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari’s story continues to resonate with a nation that values honesty, accountability and compassion.
It is an occasion to reflect on 13 top facts in the life of the former President, moments to remember as he quietly marks this birthday in his hometown, Daura with clear directives that there will be no public events marking the occasion.
The first thing to say is that he was born on 17 December 1942, in the historic town of Daura now in Katsina State. His father was called Mallam Hardo Adamu, a Fulani chieftain from Dumurkol in Mai’Adua local government area and his mother, whose name was Zulaihat, had Hausa and Kanuri ancestry.
Two, Buhari joined the army soon after leaving secondary school and had never worked outside the military until his retirement after the attainment of the high rank of a general.
As an officer, he participated in in the civil war throughout the period it lasted and did not, even once, to leave the front with excuses or frivolous reason as many had done. He did not suffer any Injury throughout the war and was a participant in the coups and counter coups that characterized the period of his service.
He commanded all but one of the Army’s four divisions, served as Military Secretary-a position he used to good effect, regularizing the records of all officers, and for which reason he got the shock of his life when, in the run up to the 2015 presidential election, a politically-motivated Army Records Officer said Buhari’s secondary school certificate was untraceable-and thereafter becoming Military Head of State after serving as governor and minister, petroleum.
Three, Buhari’s election victory in 2015 was an important milestone in his political career having run for the office thrice, each time ending up in the Supreme Court contesting the outcomes before this time when won a decisive mandate, with his party scoring the highest number of seats in the National Assembly and the control of an equally high number of states across the federation. This victory marked the beginning of his tenure as the President of Nigeria, and upon the completion of his constitutional two terms, he handed over to another party man, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president.
Four, in the exercise of the powers of his office, President Buhari’s approach to governance often mirrored that of a board chairman, emphasizing accountability, efficiency and performance. This was a good model. He hired the best hands he could lay his hands on, gave them the needed resources and the latitude of authority to give the best they could to the nation, although he never missed a chance to speak directly to the concerned ministers, permanent secretaries, heads of agencies and business leaders to remove bottlenecks.
As attested to by at least two of his key ministers, Governor Fashola and Zainab Ahmed, President Buhari never called for a day ask for personal favor or to say pay this or that person, give this or that contract to this or that other person.
On a particular day the President called Lai Mohammed, his Minister of Information and Culture to ask for a favor, Lai held his breath as to what could this be.
“Lai can I ask you for a favor?” asked the President, and the Minister’s mind began to race up and down as to what would this first of a kind request be about. “Yes, Mr. President, please go ahead.”
The President went on to say that he committed himself to an event in Lagos, the following day and that he simply cannot go and was wondering if the Minister would squeeze out the time to go and then represent him. There and then, Lai’s blood pressure de-escalated. Any Minister who failed to achieve results under Buhari will never succeed anywhere.
But as with everything human and political, these traits have both garnered praise and stirred controversy for the former President.
Five, when he took power, he announced at the open ground of his inauguration that the Command and Control Centers of the war against terrorism should relocate to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno of Borno State, the epicenter of the Boko Haram/ ISWAP terrorism. By May this year, the military had ensured the liberation of all occupied territories from the terrorists and the activities of the insurgents had been restricted to the fringes of Lake Chad and the Sambisa Forest.
Many erstwhile displaced persons had returned to their ancestral homes as peace returned to the hitherto conflict areas. The Buhari administration gave the nation a more gender sensitive Armed Forces and ensured the acquisition of military equipment and platforms on a scale never seen since the Civil War.
By his activation and relentless support for the Multinational Joint Task Forcebringing forces from Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon—in the Lake Chad Area, Buhari dealt a strong blow to crossborder terrorism.
Six, on October 14, 2019, Buhari ordered the closure all of Nigeria’s borders with Benin, as well as those with Chad, Cameroon and Niger to tackle smuggling and associated corruption, and to also to spur the domestic agricultural industry. The government launched a massive rice production scheme, as well as that of 16 other commodities pioneered by the Central Bank of Nigeria under Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele.
Following the Coronavirus-induced lockdown that brought the wheels of the economy to a grinding halt, the Buhari food production program helped the government to achieve food self-sufficiency. There was no reported shortage of food, no hunger as widely anticipated. No bodies were picked on the streets as forecast.
Thanks to that vision, the agricultural initiative improved the income of farmers, economic situation of the country and transformed the disruption caused by Covid-19 into an opportunity for growth.
Seven. In October 2022, Nigeria’s central bank announced the deadline of December 15th to replace high-value currency notes in a bid to mop up excess cash, rein in inflation and target rising insecurity in Africa’s largest economy.
This came with many unintended pains, suffering and inconvenience and other difficulties leading to popular outcry and litigation in the Supreme Court.
The positive side of this is that it led to a massive increase in the use of digital transactions. Digital payments have since then grown and are hitting a a new milestone with the ongoing rationing of currency notes by commercial banks. A cashless economy is helpful in ensuring inclusivity, security and and other benefits that come with it.
Eight, is the Social Investment Program, SIP that President Buhari introduced in 2016, the continent’s most ambitious social protection program with the use of technology to help the government to reach the poor directly while cutting off third party interlocutors. The program, among other things, ensured government’s cashbased social assistance directly to the poor in the scheme touted as the biggest financial inclusion initiative in Africa. His vision was to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years gave the background to the social investment programmes.