Although former President Muhammadu Buhari had been in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for a few days in a London clinic before his death, many dismissed the news of his demise on Sunday as the usual death wish from the rumour mills. But a brief statement from the presidency, signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, about two hours after his passing brought the mill to a halt.
The sad news took many by surprise. For more than a decade, the late national icon had been on the list of death wishers.
Buhari did not enjoy an excellent state of health, especially in the build-up to the 2015 presidential election and multiple times during his presidency.
He was betrayed by his gangling physique that accentuated his frailness and his traducers mocked him as a walking corpse. However, he weathered the storm, spending the first few months of his presidency in the United Kingdom where he contended with serious health issues. At a point, he was rumoured to have died, his cadaver photo-shopped and ferried from London to Saudi Arabia for a secret burial, while Nigerians were fed with a conspiracy theory woven around a Sudanese look-alike named Jibril.
Despite all the health challenges he faced, Buhari could be described as the proverbial cat with nine lives. He lived the nine lives from 2015, including the eight years of his presidency, and passed in the 10th year.
A shocked presidency immediately ordered the flags to be flown at half-mast. It also dispatched Vice President Kashim Shettima, accompanied by the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, to London to bring the deceased’s body home, while the Federal Executive Council is expected to hold an emergency session today in his honour.
Born in Daura on December 17, 1942, Buhari had his early education in Katsina before undergoing military training in Kaduna as well as in Great Britain, India, and the United States.
He was commissioned into the Nigerian Army as a Second Lieutenant in January, 1963 at 20. He held several command positions first as Platoon Commander from November 1963 to January 1964, as well as several political offices during the military incursions into Nigerian governance space.
He was appointed military governor of the defunct North Eastern state in 1975 during the Murtala Mohammed regime that overthrew General Yakubu Gowon in the same year. General Olusegun Obasanjo also appointed him as federal commissioner for Petroleum Resources after succeeding Murtala who was assassinated in 1976.
In 1977, Buhari became the military secretary at Supreme Military Headquarters. By September 1979 he had returned to regular army duties and commanded a division based in Kaduna. Although civilian government had returned to Nigeria in 1979 with the election of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, dissatisfaction with dismal economic conditions and what the military perceived as pervasive corruption within the political class led to another military coup on December 31, 1983, and Buhari was chosen unanimously to lead the charge in the new dispensation, ostensibly because of his well-known disciplinary disposition and zero tolerance for corruption.
Along with his stern-looking Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, Major General Tunde Idiagbon, he ruled the country with iron fists. He introduced several tough economic measures, launched the famous War Against Indiscipline (WAI), which was intended to promote positive values in the country, set up special military tribunals that tried corrupt politicians with scores of them bagging jail terms ranging from 150 to 300 years!
During his tough reign, he whipped Nigerians into line as they groaned under the tough austerity measures that his regime considered necessary to exit the economic predicaments that tormented the Shagari administration. The press was not spared. He put in place the draconian Decree No. 4 to muzzle the media, while trade movements were also abridged.
By August 27, 1985, Buhari was overthrown by his constituency. The coupists cashed on the disenchantment of the populace to sack his regime in a palace coup led by his Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. Buhari was detained in Benin City but regained his freedom at the end of 1988.
With the return of democracy in 1999, Buhari ran for president in 2003 on the platform of the All People’s Party (APP) that later morphed into the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) but was defeated by the incumbent and his former military boss, Chief Obasanjo of the Peopled Democratic Party (PDP).
He gave the presidency another shot in 2007 but lost out to the PDP’s candidate, Umaru Yar’Adua. He contested the results up to the Supreme Court where the Chief Justice, Justice Legbo Kutigi, swung victory to Yar’Adua following a tie by the justices in what he described as “in the national interest”.
Buhari again stood in the 2011 presidential election, but he again lost to the PDP’s candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. By then he had exited the ANPP to form the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and ended up winning only one state, Nasarawa.
By 2013, a coalition of some political parties was formed to birth the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the party nominated Buhari to stand as its candidate in the 2015 presidential election. Buhari’s main selling point was his military background especially as the nation battled with the threat posed by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram, whose violent acts had locked down many parts of the northern states for many years. So also was his zero tolerance for corruption that was visible in the Jonathan administration.
Fortunes smiled on him and he secured the passage to Aso Villa in 2015, defeating Jonathan’s PDP. Besides the ill-health that dogged his presidency, Buhari had to contend with challenges many believed he could solve with a wave of his magic wand. After eight years of his presidency, the Boko Haram insurgency and allied crimes are still tormenting the nation.
Neither has corruption been completely extirpated as expected. His eight-year tenure was, indeed, a farrago of despair and measured hopes.
Without a doubt, Nigeria has lost a great asset. For the North, a political rallying point has vanished. After the demise of the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sarduana of Sokoto, in the first military coup of 1966, Buhari, who then was 24, grew up to step in to fill the vacuum. From the avalanche of tributes that has been pouring in since the news of his passing broke, it is evident that he worked so hard to be apotheosised. In Buhari, another Ahmadu Bello was found. Will the North find another Buhari?
Blueprint joins millions of Nigerians at home and abroad in mourning this enigma. May Allah grant his soul Aljannah Firdausi and his family the courage to bear the painful loss.