Nigerian President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, a 72-year-old
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Muhammadu Buhari: reformed dictator returns to power in democratic Nigeria
Muhammadu Buhari?
Nigerian President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, a 72-year-old former military general, has traveled a long road to electoral victory.Muhammadu Buhari is a 72-year-old retired major general from Daura, northern Nigeria
Muhammadu Buhari has 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.
Nigerian economy weighs on voters' minds 02:54
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.
Buhari speaks to CNN's Amanpour 08:52
"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.
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