The coup that brought Muhamaddu Buhari to power on New Year's Eve 1983 was the beginning of a major effort by the military to restore order and clean up what many saw as a corrupt political system. The deposed President Shehu Shagari, his vice president and hundreds of other officials were arrested and detained by the new administration.

Buhari also embarked on a "War against Indiscipline" intended to stem corruption, indecent behavior and economic mismanagement. The program, which he said was intended to encourage patriotism, forced the public to heed road signs and memorize the national anthem, among other regulations. The "war" affected all aspects of society. For example, according to The Economist, "civil servants who arrived late for work were forced to do the 'frog-jump,' leaping up and down in a squatting position with their hands on their ears."

Buhari also enforced more serious measures, reinstating military law, restricting press freedoms and forbidding criticism of the government. He decreed that former politicians and government officials were to be tried by military tribunals.

Despite Buhari's intensive efforts to create order, it was the economy that posed the greatest threat to Nigerian society. Heavily dependent on oil exports, the economy continued to unravel as international oil prices collapsed. Opposition, though still stifled, grew as unemployment, inflation and debt to foreign nations soared. With public discontent growing, Buhari's chief of army staff, Ibrahim Babangida, stepped in and ousted him a bloodless coup on August 27, 1985.