Muhammadu Buhari

Buhari rose through the Nigerian Army during the Civil War and earned a reputation for taciturnness leading troops in the Chadian-Nigerian War under President Shehu Shagari. He was a main figure in the 1983 coup that toppled the Second Republic, becoming head of the military junta amid economic collapse and rampant corruption. His governance - strict, austere, fixated on discipline and anti-corruption through the War Against Indiscipline - created what became known as Buharism, an authoritarian system that ground against economic reality until his own generals overthrew him in August 1985. He spent the next thirty years running and losing: 2003, 2007, 2011, each time on a different party platform. In December 2014 he won the nomination of the All Progressives Congress, and in 2015 he defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan - the first time a sitting Nigerian president lost re-election. He was sworn in that May, won a second term in 2019 by over 3 million votes, and served until 2023.