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- Here's how Nigerians remember Buhari, who ruled both as a dictator and a democrat</p>
<p>OPE ADETAYO July 14, 2025 at 4:58 AM</p>
<p>FILE - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari speaks during the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021. (Adrian Dennis/Pool Photo via AP, File) ()</p>
<p>LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's former President Muhammadu Buhari, who ruled Africa's most populous nation twice as a military dictator and a democratic president, died on Sunday at age 82 and is being remembered as a divisive figure who oversaw one of the country's most troubled periods.</p>
<p>"He inherited unprecedented goodwill and squandered it," Olive Chiemerie, a Lagos-based writer, told The . "His legacy is one of missed opportunities, deepening inequality and a country left to pick up the pieces."</p>
<p>Here are some highlights of Buhari's presidency:</p>
<p>'EndSARS' protests</p>
<p>In October 2020, thousands of youths took to the streets to protest against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, a police unit accused by rights groups and others of extrajudicial killings, torture and extortion.</p>
<p>Buhari initially responded by disbanding the unit. As the protests grew stronger with broader demands for better governance, however, his government deployed security forces to resist the demonstrations.</p>
<p>On Oct. 20, soldiers opened fire at peaceful protesters in the economic hub of Lagos, killing at least 12 people, according to rights groups. Buhari didn't acknowledge the shootings in a nationwide address that called protesters "rioters" and warned them against "undermining national security."</p>
<p>Ban on Twitter</p>
<p>Months after the protests, many Nigerians took their anger online, mostly on Twitter, to rail against institutional corruption, economic woes and escalating insecurity.</p>
<p>The matter spiked after Twitter removed a tweet from Buhari's account about a secessionist movement, calling it abusive. The Nigerian government responded by suspending access to the platform for seven months.</p>
<p>That further heightened concerns over human rights. As a military dictator in Nigeria in the 1980s, Buhari had brooked little criticism. As president, he detained political opponents and several journalists. Nigerian police operatives once stormed a courtroom to re-arrest activist Omoyele Sowore, drawing outrage from the judge and many Nigerians.</p>
<p>An ailing economy</p>
<p>Buhari pursued economic policies that Nigerians said imposed huge strains on the economy, forcing it to dip into recession in 2016 and 2020.</p>
<p>In 2019, he closed the border to all goods with the goal of spurring local production, especially of agricultural products, which sparked surging inflation.</p>
<p>In the face of a dollar shortage as a result of a slump in oil production and falling oil prices globally, his government pegged the local currency to the dollar at an artificial rate, worsening the naira's value.</p>
<p>"Buhari left a legacy of debt that continues to sabotage the economic efforts of his successors," said Akeem Alao, a teacher in Lagos.</p>
<p>Security crises</p>
<p>Buhari's administration failed to rid Nigeria of its security woes — a key election promise and an ambitious one in a country long threatened by Boko Haram extremists and a breakaway faction. The years of violence have killed at least 35,000 people and displaced more than 2 million.</p>
<p>While Buhari was president, the extremists expanded beyond the northeast and partnered with other armed groups in the north to carry out attacks, including on a passenger train near the capital, Abuja, and a jailbreak there.</p>
<p>Buhari's government often declared that Boko Haram had been "technically defeated," to the scorn of critics.</p>
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