From Obasanjo to Buhari Twenty Years Of Democratic Rule In Nigeria Nigeria transitioned from military to civilian rule in 1999. The transition was the result of a bargain struck by an elite faction over 1998 and 1999, following the death of Sani Abacha. Among the principal ideas was that the presidency would alternate every eight years between the south and the north. A corollary was that if the presidential nominee was Christian, then the vice presidential nominee would be Muslim, and vice versa. This provision was never a matter of law, but it was incorporated into the rules of the soon-to-be-governing People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The other major political party, now the All Progressives Congress, never formally adopted the principle. Current incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari was the first opposition candidate to win the presidency through the ballot box. While he is just at the beginning of his second term in office, the expectation is that in 2023, after eight years of a northern, Muslim presidency, it will be the turn of southern Christians. Let’s take a look at the past 20 years of democratic rule through the reigns of four Nigerian presidents: Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari and how their legacies shaped the Nigeria of today.
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OLUSEGUN OBASANJO (1999 – 2007)
“My joy knows no bounds... I will devote all my energy and all the powers available to me to the service of Nigeria and humanity.”
The history of Nigeria is incomplete without mention of Obasanjo. At critical moments in the life of the country, fate had always brought him into the limelight for meaningful intervention. Olusegun Obasanjo was born outside Abeokuta in the ethnic Yoruba heartland. He rose to prominence through army ranks after being trained in the UK. He served in the United Nations’ first ever peacekeeping force, during the Congo crisis in 1960, and after returning to Nigeria led federal troops in the battle that ended the Biafran civil war. He became head of state in 1976 after Murtala Muhammed, to whom he was deputy, was killed in a botched coup. In 1979, Obasanjo supervised the self-liquidation of acquired power, thereby emerging as the first military Head of State to relinquish power to civilians. Twenty years later, in 1999, following years of coups, counter-coups and military misrule, he was encouraged to stand for election and was propelled back to presidency. Nigeria was threatening to break apart again at that moment in history and at the time of his swearing-in in 1999, many Nigerians were cynical about the chances of the government lasting this long. Thus, Obasanjo’s very first action in office was the unexpected but tactical retirement of all military chiefs and their immediate replacement. That action was followed by the retirement of all military officers who had held political appointments in the preceding military regime. The steps were widely applauded and they sent a clear message to the barracks and officers’ messes that the military must henceforth subject itself to control by civil government. For the first time since independence in 1960, Nigeria had democratic governance for eight uninterrupted years. Affectionately known as Baba, Obasanjo became a critical moral voice of sorts. He played a crucial role in the international community and was sent to troubled spots across the globe to solve problems of civil/military relations. He became the curator of democratic projects in Africa. More importantly, he restored Nigeria’s influence, as the Giant of Africa, on the continent and the world. To add to this, he steered Nigeria through precarious times, wiping out its once crippling external debt and unleashed some of its business potential. However left office in 2007, handing over power to Umaru Yar’Adua, somewhat unfavourably for not fully eliminating the unprincipled political culture he had sought to destroy. To this day, he remains the longest serving Nigerian leader and continues to play a pivotal role as influencer and critic in today’s political arena.
