Muhammadu Buhari

=== Coup d'état of 1983 ===
{{Main|1983 Nigerian coup d'état}}
Major-General Buhari was one of the leaders of the [[Nigerian military coup of December 31, 1983|military coup of December 1983]] that overthrew the [[Second Nigerian Republic]]. At the time of the coup plot, Buhari was the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Third Armoured Division of [[Jos]].<ref>Matthews, Martin P. ''Nigeria: current issues and historical background.'' p. 121.</ref> With the successful execution of the coup by General Buhari, [[Tunde Idiagbon]] was appointed Chief of General Staff (the de facto No. 2 in the administration). The coup ended Nigeria's short-lived [[Second Nigerian Republic|Second Republic]], a period of multi-party [[democracy]] revived in 1979, after 13 years of military rule.<ref>{{Cite web |title=No to another Republic of Nigerian Army! |url=https://guardian.ng/opinion/no-to-another-republic-of-nigerian-army/ |access-date=2023-09-17 |website=guardian.ng |language=en-US}}</ref>

According to ''The New York Times'', the officers who took power argued that "a flawed democracy was worse than no democracy at all". Buhari justified the military's seizure of power by castigating the civilian government as hopelessly corrupt and promptly suspended the [[Constitution of Nigeria|constitution]]. Another rationale for the coup was to correct economic decline in Nigeria. In the military's first broadcast after the coup, Sani Abacha linked 'an inept and corrupt leadership'{{sfn|Graf|1988|p=149}} with general economic decline. In Buhari's New Year's Day speech, he too mentioned the corrupt class of the [[Second Nigerian Republic|Second Republic]] but also as the cause of a general decline in morality in society.{{sfn|Graf|1988|p=149}}