New Book on Buhari's Life and Presidency to Launch in Abuja

The authorized biography of late President Muhammadu Buhari will be launched to the public on 19 November in Abuja. This work offers a three-volume account of his life, military career, political journey, and eight-year presidency.

The book, titled The Making of Muhammadu Buhari: The Authorised Biography, is written by Udo Yakubu, a scholar and researcher, and published by May Publishing Limited.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Mr. Yakubu explained that the biography took over two years of research, interviews, writing, editing, and verification.

He said the book follows Mr. Buhari’s life through various political times. This includes his childhood in Daura, Katsina State, his military career, and his rise as a key opposition figure before becoming president in 2015.

Mr. Yakubu mentioned that the challenge was to see how the different parts of Mr. Buhari’s life connected. He also looked at how his experiences shaped how he led and governed.

Mr. Buhari was a military Head of State from 1983 to 1985. He later returned as a presidential candidate in several elections. He won the presidency in 2015 and served two terms until 2023.

The biography discusses the questions around Mr. Buhari’s change from a military officer to a democratic politician. It also looks at his return to power through elections and the challenges of running a country like Nigeria.

The book is split into three volumes, each focusing on a different part of Mr. Buhari’s life and career.

The first volume, The Phenomenon, covers his family background, childhood, military training, role in the Nigerian Civil War, governorship, time in detention, and his years out of power. It also looks at his long political struggle leading to his election as president in 2015.

The second volume, The Presidency, focuses on his time in office from 2015 to 2023. It discusses the institutions, people, decisions, pressures, and crises that shaped his government. It uses official records, documents, and accounts from those involved in the administration.

The third volume, The Reckoning, looks at the major issues that will shape how people see Mr. Buhari’s legacy. These include security, the economy, infrastructure, anti-corruption efforts, governance, foreign relations, social policies, and leadership.

Mr. Yakubu noted that the titles of the volumes reflect different stages of Mr. Buhari’s life.

“The Phenomenon speaks to Buhari’s extraordinary persistence. The Presidency moves from the pursuit of power to the consequences of possessing it. The Reckoning recognizes that every public life eventually reaches the point where intention, action, consequence, and historical judgment must confront one another,” he said.

Mr. Yakubu said that Mr. Buhari authorized the work, which allowed him access to people, personal memories, and documents that would have been hard to get otherwise.

He added that this approval did not affect his independence as a biographer. He recognized that Mr. Buhari, who died last year, was a controversial figure in Nigerian politics. Some supporters saw him as disciplined, restrained, and incorruptible, while critics linked his leadership to rigidity and economic mistakes.

Mr. Yakubu mentioned that his job was to explore different views of Mr. Buhari’s life. He wanted to let evidence, timelines, and the effects of his decisions shape the story.

He said this needed listening to people who respected the former president while also looking at criticism of his leadership. He stressed that explaining a decision does not mean justifying it.

The author said the biography looks at the expectations that came with Mr. Buhari becoming president in 2015. This includes security, anti-corruption, and economic change compared to the results of his time in office.

He acknowledged that the eight-year presidency had major infrastructure projects and institutional initiatives, as well as some security improvements. Still, it also saw new forms of insecurity and ongoing questions about anti-corruption efforts.

The administration faced tough discussions about monetary policy, public debt, fuel subsidies, poverty, unemployment, and economic hardships.

Mr. Yakubu shared that he spoke to many people who worked closely with Mr. Buhari. Some provided very different accounts of the same events.

He said these differences showed the various views of those in government, including ministers, presidential advisors, military officers, and civil servants.

The author explained that Mr. Buhari’s death changed the research environment by ending the chance for more direct interviews and clarifications.

However, he said this did not turn the biography into a tribute or require softening the views on his record.

“There are passages that recognize achievement. There are others that examine failure. Some will please his admirers. Others will make them uncomfortable. The same will be true for his critics. That is the consequence of attempting to treat a life whole,” he said.

Mr. Yakubu said the books also look at the institutions and individuals that influenced the former president’s administration. He emphasized that Nigeria’s governance cannot be understood through the president’s actions alone.

He mentioned that this work should not be seen as the final account of Mr. Buhari’s life and presidency. Some records are still missing, some participants are alive, and new information may come to light.

“Biography enters an argument. It does not close it. My hope is that these volumes substantially enlarge the evidence available for that argument,” he said.

He added that the project also aims to address the loss of Nigeria’s historical records as personal documents disappear, participants die, and memories are shaped by partisan views.

Earlier, Suleiman Adamu, a former Minister of Water Resources and chairman of the planning committee for the book launch, said the event aims to be a national moment for reflecting on history, leadership, public service, and preserving the country’s collective memory.

Mr. Adamu noted that Mr. Buhari held a unique place in Nigeria’s modern history. His public career spanned different political times and institutional settings.

He described the former president as a soldier, military commander, military governor, federal commissioner, Head of State, political prisoner, presidential candidate, opposition leader, and finally, an elected president who served two terms between 2015 and 2023.

He stated that few Nigerian public figures have faced as many political setbacks or returned as often to national affairs as Mr. Buhari.

For more than fifty years, Mr. Adamu said the former president was a key figure in national discussions, earning both strong loyalty and criticism for his methods, beliefs, political decisions, and performance in office.

He added that Mr. Buhari’s life was linked with some of the most important times in Nigeria’s post-independence history. This includes military rule, the Civil War, changes in the oil economy, transitions to democracy, insurgency, economic crises, and institutional reform efforts.

“To tell the story of Muhammadu Buhari, therefore, is inevitably to enter into the larger story of Nigeria itself. That is why this biography is important. The work being presented comprises three substantial volumes,” Mr. Adamu said.