For instance, a letter dated
13 June 1980 from Major General
DeWITT C. Smith, Commandant of
the United States Army War College,
Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania to
then Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff,
Lt General Alani Akinrinade, is also in
the file Laleye was waving to the
reporters and he did not mention it
because it would not help his hatchet
job. I crave the indulgence of readers
to reproduce it in full:
“Once again it is my distinct pleasure
to comment on the performance of a
Nigerian Army Officer and also to
report to you that Brigadier
Muhammadu Buhari proved to be a
most distinguished Fellow. He
graduated with the class of 1980 on 9
June and while we do not have a
class standings, it should be pointed
out that his performance was
outstanding in every respect.
“So that you may better understand
the environment in which he worked
and studied, let me briefly describe
our academic program. The ten-
month course, designed to prepare
students for senior command and
staff positions and to promote
understanding of the art and science
of land warfare, is the basic academic
effort undertaken by all US Army War
College students and serves as the
basis for more specialized efforts
during subsequent phases of the
curriculum. During the common
overview, the student examines the
elements of national power in
relations to specific issues which
directly affect national security;
studies defense management and
decision making to include
leadership and management of
operational activities and the human
dimension of command; and,
considers the military planning and
operations in key global regions.
“The advanced courses provide for
study in greater depth on a wide
variety of subjects to meet the
individual professional needs of our
students. During this phase, Brigadier
Buhari concentrated on those
subjects and areas that could
contribute the most to his
professional development. He took
four courses for credit---‘African
Realities and Prospects’; ‘Middle East
Political Dynamics’; ‘Problems of
Modernisation’ and ‘Comparative
Communism’ and audited three other
courses-- ‘Defense Decision-making’,
‘Analytical Techniques of
Management’ and ‘Fundamentals of
Automatic Data Processing’. In
addition, he arranged on his own to
visit US Army facilities where he
could further his professional
understanding of logistics
management.
“Brigadier Buhari is a man of
extraordinary aptitude who
demonstrated a broad knowledge of
current international problems. His
keen interest, sense of responsibility
and solid grasp of strategic
implications of the important global
issues marked him as a key member
of any student seminar. In fact, he
was at his best in the ‘give and take’
environment of our seminar group
discussions where students are
encouraged to express their views
even though they differ from the
group consensus.
“A well read, articulate professional
who demonstrated a vast range of
knowledge in strategically related
issues, Muhammadu was an active
and contributing member of his
seminar group. He could be counted
on to weed through the peripheral
issues and irrelevant discussions to
identify the source of discussion or
misunderstanding, and make
appropriate proposals or
recommendations to keep the
discussion properly focused. His
views and opinions were often
sought, consistently on target, and
highly respected by his
contemporaries. He has an
outstanding ability to isolate the key
issues and facts and, where
appropriate, propose
recommendations which kept the
discussion focused on the central
topic.
“Brigadier Buhari’s thorough
understanding of the major issues in
the United States and the world
reflected obvious research and
analytical facilities far exceeding the
majority of his contemporaries. His
written efforts were ‘first rate’ and
noted for their outstanding quality of
research, logic and communications
skills. Brigadier Buhari’s oral
presentations consistently reflected
those gifts of mind and bearing
which are essential in command or
group endeavors. His individual
presentations were of exceptional
value in that he avoided vague
generalities and focused on the
issues which involved hard, detailed
choices.
“Throughout the course, Brigadier
Buhari displayed a thorough
understanding of the substantive
issues at stake, together with a
remarkable ability to deal with a wide
range of complex issues
simultaneously. He is a broadly-
oriented officer who doesn’t channel
his energies into narrow areas but
rather seeks to improve his overall
understanding of international
issues. Muhammadu is intellectually
curious, cooperative and does not
hesitate to state his own views. He is
also a good listener and always took
account of what others had to say.
Muhammadu’s ability to ask relevant
and probing questions, his political
sensitivity and intimate knowledge of
current political-military problems
made him one of the key motivators
in his seminar group.
“Brigadier Buhari demonstrated an
exceptional understanding of the
complexities of military strategy and
the process whereby forces to
support a particular strategy are
developed. He is a most perspective,
intelligent individual who contributed
a great deal to the seminar based
upon his experiences in the Nigerian
Army. Muhammadu was consistently
able to provide the seminar group
with a non-Western perspective and
a surprisingly broad strategic view of
the world. He was able, on many
occasions, to effectively contrasts his
own Army’s command and
management philosophies and
practices with the United States
Army’s in such a way as to be
beneficial and educational to all.
“Muhammadu is a most personable
and engaging officer who earned the
unqualified admiration and respect
of his colleagues. His sociability and
high ethical standards set him apart
and when coupled with his other
personal attributes mark Brigadier
Buhari as an individual who will
continue to be a significant
contributor in his chosen profession.
Muhammadu is a natural leader with
an abundance of intelligence and
broad experience and he
demonstrated a rare capacity for
continued development and growth.
More so than other officers in his
positions, he continually strove to
improve his knowledge of his
profession and to develop those skills
required to contribute to the
Nigerian Army in the future
“Brigadier Buhari was an active
participant in the extra-curricular
activities of the student body. In
addition to his activities with his
seminar in sports competition, he
volunteered to be an assistant coach
at a junior-level soccer team. He
generously supported our
community relations program by
speaking on several occasions to
groups in the local area.
Muhammadu, his lovely wife,
Safinatu, and his young family were
actively involved in the social life of
the College and were a credit to
Nigeria.
“In sum, Brigadier Buhari’s wisdom
and incisive and analytical mind
identify him as being capable of
discharging increasing degrees of
responsibility in an outstanding
manner. His insights into rather
complex issues and ability to tackle
the problems at hand indicate that he has exceptional potential in the
armed forces of Nigeria and is
worthy of the trust placed in him by the Government."

Source: Olusegun Adeniyi, The Verdict, Thisday, 13th February, 2015.

What a wonderful recommendation. No wonder he keeps getting support everywhere both locally and internationally.

Common waec he does not have, every other thing na wash.........



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GEJ TILL 2019