Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR (born 17 December 1942) is the President of Nigeria and a former Major General in the Nigerian Army. He first became Head of State of Nigeria on 31 December 1983 when he took over the government by surprise. While he was in power, he passed laws to control how people behaved that were very harsh and put many people in jail, even the famous musician Fela Kuti. On 27 August 1985, there was another surprise takeover and he was no longer in charge of the country.