Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan has lost his grasp on power, conceding election defeat to former military ruler Muhammadu Buahari.
It ends a 16-year rule for the People’s Democratic Party and a four-year term for Jonathan that saw the country rise to become Africa’s largest economy while drawing unfavourable international attention for its struggle to contain the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
READ MORE: Ex-dictator Muhammadu Buhari defeats Goodluck Jonathan in Nigerian election
Buhari, the 72-year-old leader of the All Progressive Congress, only led the country for less than two years, after being appointed following a 1983 military coup d’état.
But during those 20 months, he ruled with an iron fist.
He arrested hundreds for corruption, had opponents and journalists tossed in jails, and tightened press freedoms. He launched a “War Against Indiscipline” that saw truant public servants forced to do physical drills such as jumping jacks and squats, when they showed up late for work. Traffic violators and disorderly commuters risked being whipped by Buhari’s soldiers. It was all in the name of Nigerian national pride.
“The military came in when it was absolutely necessary and the elected people had failed the country,” BBC quoted Buhari saying in 2005. “It is up to the people. If you choose correct leadership, there won’t be any need for the military regime.”
READ MORE: Boko Haram kidnapped over 400 children, women from Nigeria town: report
Buhari also tried to reform Nigeria’s economy, but it was the failed measures he took that led to him being deposed.
He was overthrown by another general, Ibrahim Babangida, in August 1985 and thrown in prison for 40 months.
Twenty years and a few democratic presidential campaigns later — he ran in 2003, 2007 and 2011, when he lost to Jonathan — Buhari says he’s a changed man.
Although his rule was considered “draconian,” many Nigerians see him as the leader who could end the corruption that has plagued Nigerian business and politics and to take on Boko Haram. Before the 1983 coup that first brought him to power, Buhari had spent 20 years in the military.
In the days leading up to the vote, the Nigerian military claimed to have destroyed Boko Haram’s headquarters . But, Boko Haram still killed 41 people in attacks on polling stations over the weekend.
The rise of Boko Haram has exacerbated relations between Christians like Jonathan, who dominate the oil-rich south, and Muslims like Buhari, who are the majority in the agricultural and cattle-herding lands of the north. The population of 170 million is almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims.
With files from The Associated Press
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