Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) distinguished Nigerian, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (GCFR), the Nigerian Armed Forces Services Star medallist, Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa, of the University of Calabar, Benue State University and Enugu State University, Doctor of Letters, University of Ilorin and Doctor of Science, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi. He is an accomplished soldier, a level-headed Statesman, a trustworthy administrator. He has served as Military Governor of the then North-Eastern State, Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources, and Pioneer Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and as Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
General Buhari was born on December 17, 1942, in the town of Daura in the former Katsina province of the then Northern Nigeria.He went to Primary School in Daura and Mai’adua from 1948 – 1952, before proceeding to Katsina middle School in 1953. He attended the Katsina Provincial Secondary School (now Government College Katsina) from 1956 – 1961. On graduation from Secondary School in 1961, the young Buhari went to the Nigerian Military Training School, Kaduna in 1963.
In October of the same year, he was sent to the officers’ Cadet School in Aldershot in the United Kingdom and was thereafter commissioned Second Lieutenant in 1963 and posted to the 2nd Infantry Battalion, Abeokuta as Platoon Commander in 1963. A contemporary of his in Aldershot said he was like “an only pebble in the beach, a star in his calm and calculating disposition.”
It was at the Abeokuta Garrison that the real traits of a great soldier were identified in the young man. From 1963 – 1964 he was sent for further training on the Platoon Commanders’ Course at the Nigerian Military College, Kaduna. In 1965, he went for the Mechanical Transport Officers’ Course at the Army Mechanical Transport School in Borden, England. He went to the Defence Services’ Staff College, Wellington, India in 1973 and to the United States Army War College from June 1979 to June 1980.
Command and Staff appointments since 1963, including the following:
* Platoon Commander, 2nd Infantry Battalion, 1963 – 1964.
* Mechanical Transport Officer, Lagos Garrison, 1964 – 1965.
* Transport Company Commander, 2nd Infantry Brigade 1965 – 1966;
* Battalion Adjutant / Commander, 2nd Infantry Brigade 1966 – 1967;
* Brigade Major, 2nd Sector, 1st Infantry Division, April to July 1967;
* Brigade Major, 3rd Infantry Brigade, August 1967 – October 1968;
* Acting Commander, 4th Sector, 1st Division November 1968 – February 1970;
* Commander, 31st Infantry Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, February 1970 – June 1971;
* Assistant Adjutant-General, 1st Infantry Division Hqrs., July 1971 – Dec. 1972;
* Colonel, General Staff, 3rd Infantry Div. Hqrs. Jan. 1974 – Sept. 1974.
* Acting Director, Supply and Transport, Nigeria Army Corps of supply and Transport, September 1974 – July 1975;
* Military Governor, North Eastern State of Nigeria, August 1975 – March 1976;
* Federal Commissioner for Petroleum Resources, March 1976 to June 1978;
* Chairman, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, June 1978 – July 1978;
* Military Secretary, Army Headquarters July 1978 – June 1979;
* Member Supreme Military Council, March 1976 – June 1979;
* General Officer Commanding, 4th Infantry Division, Aug. 1980 – Jan. 1981;
* General Officer Commanding, 2nd Mechanised Infantry Division, Jan. 1981 – October 1981;
* General Officer Commanding 3rd Armed Division Nigerian Army, October 1981 – December 1983.
* Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, December 1983 – August 1985.
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