1. He stopped food subsidy in higher institutions of learning including universities in 1984.
2. Stopped the Lagos Metroline rail project contract awarded by Jakande as Governor of Lagos state. Terms of contract was that any of the two parties that would cancel the contract would pay 60% of the cost of project to the other party. Buhari cancelled the contract and paid the 60% withdrawal cost.
3. His nepotism was evident in the way his military government treated Ekwueme and Shagari differently. Shagari was placed under house arrest and Ekwueme was thrown into Kirikiri prison.
* He seized Awolowo’s passport and prevented him from attending to his health challenges.
* He locked up Fred Brume without trial and appointed his stooge as Chief Executive of Delta Steel Company (DSC) and that was how Delta Steel Company collapsed till present. Before Buhari’s coming as military head of state, Nigeria was exporting steel pellets and rods made in DSC Ovwian- Aladja, Bendel now Delta state.
4. Threw all UPN governors who were the best into prisons and some of them like Ambrose Ali and Bisi Onabanjo died due to undue imprisonment.
5. 26 suitcases by the Emir of Daura that were not checked at the airport and were rumoured to be loaded with foreign currencies while Fela Ransome Kuti was jailed for carrying few foreign currencies.
6. Buhari backdated death penalty decree on the drugs execution of three young men, one of which was Bartolomew Owoh.
Buhari military regime brought severe hardships on Nigerians. It was in Buhari military administration that we heard of essential scarce groceries. That soldiers were breaking into stores in different markets in Southern Nigeria to force traders to auction their goods.
It was Buhari’s military administration that Umaru Dikko was abducted from his London house and kept in crates in cargo plane at the London Gatwick Airport that led to the UK government to seize the Nigerian Airways plane that Umaro Dikko was discovered as a cargo.
Instead of Buhari to use diplomatic means to extradite Umaru Dikko, he applied crude method of kidnapping him in the UK using some Israelis. They were caught in a crate of goods with Umaru Dikko inside but were seen with syringes and medicine to keep him sleeping.
Before then Nigerians never needed visiting visas to enter the United Kindgom as far as one can afford flight tickets and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) and cheque of five hundred naira. On arrival at the UK airports one is asked how long he/she is expected to stay upon which a visa was stamped on the Nigerian passports of the holders.
When the UK government impounded that Nigerian airways cargo plane Buhari immediately impounded all British Airways planes in Lagos and that was how UK severed relations with Nigeria.
Just precisely, 30th October 2022 my intimate friend and brother in our college and university days reminded me if I had forgotten all of this and I recollected immediately.
He said he knew right from Buhari’s military tyranny days that Buhari has nothing to offer Nigeria than hardships. Nigeria has not been so divided before now. Before Buhari overthrew Shehu Shagari, the country was moving on well economically and Shagari appointed Southern Christian Nigerians even more than Northern Muslims.
He was a Liberal leader, highly accepted by Nigerians. Today the country is divided by tribes, between Christians and Muslims. All juicy appointments are held by his tribesmen and those in his religious fold.
Nigeria never had it so bad as it is today. May 29, 2023, his tenure will expire and he will be remembered for insecurity, lawlessness and nepotism. His coming as democratically elected became worse than his military era.
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