General Muhammadu Buhari ruled Nigeria before, as one of
a line of military strongmen who dominated the country between 1966 and 1999.
A military coup brought Buhari to power in late 1983 --
closing a brief period of popular rule by Shehu Shagari -- and another military
coup ousted him from power in August 1985.
Buhari's 20-month rule was known for what he described as
a "war on indiscipline," a tough regime which some say was marred by
human rights abuses.
The 72-year-old retired major general's experience as a
military ruler has been viewed as a plus by some and a minus by others in
present-day Nigeria, where the government has been locked in a deadly battle
with the militant group Boko Haram.
This year alone, the extremists have killed at least
1,000 civilians, Human Rights Watch says. The ongoing
violence in the Northeast has put security -- along with corruption and the
economy -- at the top of the election agenda.
Ayo Johnson, a documentary filmmaker and analyst on
African affairs, told CNN earlier this month that the elections would come down
to who could make Nigeria feel safe.
"Many Nigerians will not forget (Buhari) was a
military leader, during a dictatorship," Johnson said. "Or maybe they
will feel that they need a military leader to address fundamental problems such
as terrorism."
Buhari has campaigned as a born-again democrat to allay
fears about his strict military regime, while stressing that Nigeria's security
needs to be the next government's focus.
"It's a question of security. Whether I was a former
military officer or a politician through and through, when there is insecurity
of this scale in the country, that takes the priority," he said from his
campaign plane.
'Judged harshly'
In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour in
February, Buhari blamed President Goodluck Jonathan's government for repeated
setbacks in the fight against extremists.
"The misappropriation of resources provided by the
government for weapons means the Nigerian military is unable to beat Boko
Haram," he said.
Asked by Amanpour about abuses allegedly committed during
his own previous leadership, Buhari said there was "a degree of
accuracy" in the claims.
But he said he had ruled Nigeria as part of a military
administration.
"When that military administration came under my
leadership, we suspended -- as a military then -- part of that constitution
that we felt would be difficult for us to operate and as also a
consensus," he said. "I think I'm being judged harshly as an
individual that what happened during a military administration can be extended
under a multiparty democratic system."
Buhari's campaign was also fiercely anti-corruption. He
ran under the slogan of "new broom," and his supporters were often
pictured holding brooms in the lead-up to the vote.
Previous candidacies
The 2015 presidential race was Buhari's fourth attempt at
leadership since he was ousted from power in 1985.
In 2003, Buhari -- then with the All Nigeria People's
Party -- lost to Olusegun Obasanjo in an election during which EU observers reported widespread irregularities.
He lost again to Umaru Yar'Adua in the 2007 election,
which was widely condemned for rampant vote-rigging, violence, theft of ballot
boxes and intimidation.
After Yar'Adua's death in 2010, Jonathan rose from vice
president to president and Buhari challenged him in the 2011 elections as a
candidate from the Congress for Progressive Change.
Buhari had helped found the party a year earlier, saying
it was "a solution to the debilitating, ethical and ideological conflicts
in my former party, the ANPP."
Buhari is a Muslim from Nigeria's poorer North, while
Jonathan hails from a Christian and animist South that is rich with oil.
After Jonathan's victory in 2011, amid accusations of
vote-rigging, violent riots broke out in the North.
Armed protesters took to the streets chanting Buhari's
name, and more than 800 people were killed in the post-election violence.
Buhari's office issued a statement calling reports of
burning of places of worship places a "sad, unfortunate and totally
unwarranted development."
"I must say that this is a dastardly act (that) is
not initiated by any of our supporters and therefore cannot be supported by our
party," said Buhari's spokesman Yinka Odumakin. "I must emphasize
that this is purely a political matter, and it should not in any way be turned
into an ethnic, religious or regional one."
Ahead of this year's election, Jonathan and Buhari signed
a nonviolence pact, the Abuja Accord, in January. On March 26
they renewed their pledge and reiterated their commitment to "free, fair
and credible elections."
But violent protests broke out after polling on
Saturday. Protesters fired gunshots and torched a local electoral office in
Nigeria's oil-rich Rivers state on Sunday as they marched to protest the
elections, amid claims of vote-rigging and voter intimidation.
Both candidates called for calm, with Buhari, who
contested this year's vote as part of the All Progressives Congress, tweeting:
"Fellow Nigerians, I urge you to exercise patience and vigilance as we
wait for all results to be announced."
After the protests in Rivers, his party demanded the
elections there be canceled. But Nigeria's electoral commission decided the
results would stand, saying it "did not believe the allegations were substantial enough to
require the cancellation/rescheduling" of the Rivers poll.
Secondary education claims
According to his campaign website, Buhari
is from Daura in Nigeria's northern Katsina state and is married with eight
children.
His military training began in 1963 and included stints
in the United Kingdom, India and the United States. Buhari was the first
chairman of the Nigerian Petroleum Corporation, the site says.
Elements of Buhari's biography were questioned in the
run-up to the March 28 election.
After weeks of speculation and an ongoing legal battleover
allegations that Buhari failed to complete his secondary school education, a
Nigerian court on March 25 cleared the way for him to run in the presidential
race after adjourning the case until April 22.
As a Sunni Muslim from the North, Buhari appears to have
moved to address any concerns his appointment could be detrimental to
non-Muslim Nigerians --approximately half the country's population,
according to the CIA Factbook.
A blog post on his campaign website headed
"Buhari will never Islamise Nigeria" describes a campaign ceremony in
January in Imo state.
Imo Gov. Rochas Okorocha, it says, "dismissed
suggestions of plans by Muhammadu Buhari to 'Islamize' Nigeria," telling
the audience Buhari's long-time cook and driver were Christians and his
youngest daughter had married a Christian.
Buhari has also not been immune to the violence plaguing
northern Nigeria. Last year, he was targeted in a suicide bombing that killed at least 15
people in the city of Kaduna. An earlier blast in the city the same day had
been aimed at a Muslim cleric.
Culled from CNN
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