Indeed, the history of Nigeria can not be
written without the mention of Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari (rtd). Buhari has become
somewhat a permanent feature in the political
firmament of this nation. This is because of
the various roles the Daura-born General has
played in this nation.
In December 1983, some middle and high-
ranking military officers selected Buahri to
lead the country after a successful military
coup that toppled then president, Alhaji Shehu
Shagari. At the time, Buhari was head of the
Third Armored Division of Jos.
Below is a transcript of his speech after the
military coup obtained from Omojuwa.com:

“In pursuance of the primary objective of
saving our great nation from total collapse, I,
Major-General Muhammadu Buhari of the
Nigerian army have, after due consultation
amongst the services of the armed forces, been
formally invested with the authority of the
Head of the Federal Military Government and
the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is with
humility and a deep sense of responsibility that
I accept this challenge and call to national
duty.
As you must have heard in the previous
announcement, the constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria (1979) has been
suspended, except those sections of it which
are exempted in the constitution. The change
became necessary in order to put an end to
the serious economic predicament and the
crisis of confidence now afflicting our nation.
Consequently, the Nigerian armed forces have
constituted themselves into a Federal Military
Government comprising of a Supreme Military
Council, a National Council of States, a Federal
Executive Council at the centre and State
Executive Councils to be presided over by
military governors in each of the states of the
federation. Members of these councils will be
announced soon. The last Federal Military
Government drew up a programme with the
aim of handing over political power to the
civilians in 1979. This programme as you all
know, was implemented to the letter. The 1979
constitution was promulgated.

However, little did the military realise that the
political leadership of the second republic will
circumvent most of the checks and balances in
the constitution and bring the present state of
general insecurity. The premium on political
power became so exceedingly high that
political contestants regarded victory at
elections as a matter of life and death struggle
and were determined to capture or retain
power by all means. It is true that there is a
worldwide economic recession.
However, in the case of Nigeria, its impact was
aggravated by mismanagement. We believe the
appropriate government agencies have good
advice but the leadership disregarded their
advice. The situation could have been avoided
if the legislators were alive to their
constitutional responsibilities; Instead, the
legislators were preoccupied with determining
their salary scales, fringe benefit and
unnecessary foreign travels, et al, which took
no account of the state of the economy and
the welfare of the people they represented.
As a result of our inability to cultivate financial
discipline and prudent management of the
economy, we have come to depend largely on
internal and external borrowing to execute
government projects with attendant domestic
pressure and soaring external debts, thus
aggravating the propensity of the outgoing
civilian administration to mismanaged our
financial resources. Nigeria was already
condemned perpetually with the twin problem
of heavy budget deficits and weak balance of
payments position, with the prospect of
building a virile and viable economy.

The last general election was anything but free
and fair. The only political parties that could
complain of election rigging are those parties
that lacked the resources to rig. There is
ample evidence that rigging and thuggery were
relative to the resources available to the
parties. This conclusively proved to us that the
parties have not developed confidence in the
presidential system of government on which
the nation invested so much material and
human resources. While corruption and
indiscipline have been associated with our
state of under-development, these two evils in
our body politics have attained unprecedented
height in the past few years. The corrupt, inept
and insensitive leadership in the last four years
has been the source of immorality and
impropriety in our society.
Since what happens in any society is largely a
reflection of the leadership of that society, we
deplore corruption in all its facets. This
government will not tolerate kick-backs,
inflation of contracts and over-invoicing of
imports etc. Nor will it condone forgery, fraud,
embezzlement, misuse and abuse of office and
illegal dealings in foreign exchange and
smuggling. Arson has been used to cover up
fraudulent acts in public institutions. I am
referring to the fire incidents that gutted the
P&T buildings in Lagos, the Anambra State
Broadcasting Corporation, the Republic
Building at Marina, the Federal Ministry of
Education, the Federal Capital Development
Authority Accounts at Abuja and the NET
Building. Most of these fire incidents occurred
at a time when Nigerians were being
apprehensive of the frequency of fraud
scandals and the government incapacity to
deal with them. Corruption has become so
pervasive and intractable that a whole ministry
has been created to stem it.

Fellow Nigerians, this indeed is the moment of
truth. My colleagues and I – the Supreme
Military Council, must be frank enough to
acknowledge the fact that at the moment, an
accurate picture of the financial position is yet
to be determined. We have no doubt that the
situation is bad enough. In spite of all this,
every effort will be made to ensure that the
difficult and degrading conditions under which
we are living are eliminated. Let no one
however be deceived that workers who have
not received their salaries in the past eight or
so months will receive such salaries within
today or tomorrow or that hospitals which
have been without drugs for months will be
provided with enough immediately. We are
determined that with the help of God we shall
do our best to settle genuine payments to
which government is committed, including
backlog of workers’ salaries after scrutiny.
We are confident and we assure you that even
in the face of the global recession, and the
seemingly gloomy financial future, given
prudent management of Nigeria’s existing
financial resources and our determination to
substantially reduce and eventually nail down
rises in budgetary deficits and weak balance of
payments position. The Federal Military
Government will reappraise policies with a view
to paying greater attention to the following
areas: The economy will be given a new
impetus and better sense of direction. Corrupt
officials and their agents will be brought to
book.

In view of the drought that affected most parts
of the country, the federal government will,
with the available resources, import food stuffs
to supplement the shortfalls suffered in the
last harvest. Our foreign policy will both be
dynamic and realistic. Africa will of course
continue to be the centre piece of our foreign
policy. The morale and combat readiness of
the armed forces will be given high priority.
Officers and men with high personal and
professional integrity will have nothing to fear.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria and all other
holders of judiciary appointments within the
federation can continue in their appointments
and the judiciary shall continue to function
under existing laws subject to such exceptions
as may be decreed from time to time by the
Federal Military Government. All holders of
appointments in the civil service, the police
and the National Security Organisation shall
continue to exercise their functions in the
normal way subject to changes that may be
introduced by the Federal Military Government.
All those chairmen and members of statutory
corporations, parastatals and other executive
departments are hereby relieved of their
appointments with immediate effect.
The Federal Military Government will maintain
and strengthen existing diplomatic relations
with other states and with international
organisations and institutions such as the
Organisation of African Unity, the United
Nations and its organs, Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries, ECOWAS and
the Commonwealth etc. The Federal Military
Government will honour and respect all treaties
and obligations entered into by the previous
government and we hope that such nations
and bodies will reciprocate this gesture by
respecting our country’s territorial integrity
and sovereignty.

Fellow Nigerians, finally, we have dutifully
intervened to save this nation from imminent
collapse. We therefore expect all Nigerians,
including those who participated directly or
indirectly in bringing the nation to this present
predicament, to cooperate with us. This
generation of Nigerians, and indeed future
generations, have no country other than
Nigeria. We shall remain here and salvage it
together.May God bless us all”.



In just two years, Buhari’s government was
revered for its ability to keep the country afloat
by making progress through sheer economic
ingenuity even when it rejected the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan and
refused to adopt IMF conditionalities to
devalue the Naira. His government was
praised for its gain in reducing inflation by
refusing to devalue the nation’s currency,
curbing imports of needless goods, curtailing
oil theft and using counter trade policy to
barter seized illegally bunkered crude oil for
needful goods like machineries, enabling it to
export above its OPEC quota.

braintext:
you expect me to read all that?

I couldn't myself.

Whether long or short. Buhari is an anti-democratic element. He toppled a democratically elected government. He said that there will be bloodshed if he looses 2015 election. He supported Boko Haram by saying the the fight against Boko Haram is injustice to the North. Therefore he is not fit to be a democratic leader, who loves shedding the blood of innocent Nigerians.

Geoffis:
Whether long or short. Buhari is an anti-democratic element. He toppled a democratically elected government. He said that there will be bloodshed if he looses 2015 election. He supported Boko Haram by saying the the fight against Boko Haram is injustice to the North. Therefore he is not fit to be a democratic leader, who loves shedding the blood of innocent Nigerians.

I can't change your perspective on this man but one thing I can tell you is that Nigeria has suffered enough, it is time for change. And that change is GMB. I am not saying he doesn't have his shortcoming, but he is the only option which every reasonable man in Nigeria should vote for cos he is the only way Nigeria can be corrupt free. He is not afraid to take the bull by the horn that is why every corrupt individual fear him. Buhari come 2015!
God bless Nigeria!!!