Chronology of Major Political Events in the Abacha

Era (1993-1998)
Enemaku Idachaba
p. 341-363

FULL TEXT
1 Nigeria’s default on the issues of democracy and/or good governance and human rights,
strained, without a shadow of a doubt, the relationship between the country’s civil
society, the international community and the Nigerian state under General Sani Abacha.
This arose from the monumental annulment, by the Babangida military regime, of the
June 12 1993, presidential election, adjudged by both international and national
observers as ‘free and fair’. Sequel to this, the Abacha regime which succeeded the crisis-
ridden regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, after the ‘illegal’ Interim National
Government (ING), put Nigeria at the highest peak of human rights abuse in its political
history.

2 This chronological analysis highlights, essentially, the crisis of the democratic process
and human rights in Nigeria during the Abacha years which subsequently led to an
extremely tense relationship between the country and the international community. It
also lays emphasis on issues of governance and civil-military relations.

3 A word on the chronology: the flashback into the last lap of the Babangida regime is
intended to demonstrate the linkage, in political terms, between the Babangida and
Abacha regimes. If it seems that we have unduly highlighted the spate of bomb blasts
that were a recurring decimal of the Abacha era, it is because that singular phenomenon
contributed to heightening political and social insecurity nationwide. The latter would
then be used by government, indeed provided a perfect alibi for Abacha, to run a
personalist dictatorship, a muscular and authoritarian government, almost in all
material particular. Worse still, cases of hired assassinations almost became a national
routine. The Police, totally beholden, as it was, to successive juntas, was long on
promises but short on delivery: neither the assassins nor their sponsors were
apprehended. Mercifully, the Oputa Human Rights Violation and Investigation
Commission in Nigeria (HRVIC) already regarded by many an analyst, as the Nigerian
version of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), that began
sitting in 2000, has started to unravel some of the most bizarre killings and attempted
assassinations of that gruesome period.

4 The Abubakar interregnum (June 1998 – May 1999) is included here principally to
indicate how rapidly electoral democracy, even if pro-forma, was wound up with the
inauguration of the Obasanjo government on 29 May 1999.

Events Preceeding the Abacha Era: A flashback

 5 August 30, 1990: Babangida reshuffles government, 9 ministers and 10 state governors
replaced. Office of Chief of General Staff renamed Vice Presidency. Lt. General Abacha
replaces Babangida as minister of Defence and retains his post as Chief of Defence Staff.

6 March 27-31, 1993: Businessman, Alhaji Bashir Tofa secures National Republican
Convention (NRC) presidential ticket while Chief Moshood Abiola, publisher of the
Concord Group of Newspapers becomes Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential flag
bearer.

7 April 17, 1993: The National Assembly convenes for the first time and immediately
resolves to oppose any effort to disrupt the transition to civil rule programme.

8 June 4, 1993: The President dissolves the Armed Forces Ruling Council and replaces it
with the National Defence and Security Council (NDSC). In the same vein, the Council of
Ministers was supplanted by the Transitional Council (TC).

9 June 10, 1993: The Abuja High Court, with Justice Bassey Ikpeme presiding, issues an
order restraining NEC from conducting the presidential election on June 12, 1993. This
follows a suit brought by a largely ‘shadowy organization’, the Association for Better
Nigeria (ABN), headed by Chief Arthur Nzeribe, a disqualified presidential aspirant.
Michael O’Brien of the US Information Agency in Lagos issues a statement that
postponement of the elections is ‘unacceptable’ to the US government.

10 June 12, 1993: National Electoral Commission (NEC) conducts presidential elections in
defiance of the Abuja High Court Order. Nigerians and foreign observers describe the
elections as the freest and fairest the country has ever experienced.

11 June 14, 1993: NEC publishes results from fifteen states on its billboard outside its
headquarters at Abuja showing that M.K.O Abiola is leading in all regions of the country
including Bashir Tofa’s home state, Kano.

12 June 14, 1993: Government swears in a 7-member presidential election tribunal.

13 June 15, 1993: Another interim Order by an Abuja Court restrains NEC from releasing the
results of the presidential elections.

14 June 16, 1993: NEC shelves the release of the final results of the election because of
developments and actions pending in courts until further notice.

15 June 22, 1993: NEC goes to the Court of Appeal to challenge the interim injunction by
the Abuja High Court.

16 June 23, 1993: The Government annuls the results of the June 12 elections in a most
bizarre manner; nullifies all the relevant court decisions, suspends NEC through an
unsigned terse statement.

17 June 24-29, 1993: Abiola declares himself president-elect; individuals and groups protest
the annulment of the elections.
18 June 30, 1993: Campaign for Democracy (CD) an umbrella organization for no fewer
than 40 NGOS/Human Rights Groups, calls for a one-week nationwide protest to begin
on July 5.

19 July 1, 1993: British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, freezes new aids to Nigeria.

20 July 31, 1993: The National Defence and Security Council (NDSC) announces that an
Interim National Government comprising of representatives of the NRC, the SDP, and
leading military officers will be formed.

21 August 1, 1993: A group of thirty senators signs a joint motion asking the government
to declare the winner of the June 12 election.

22 August 4, 1993: Abiola leaves Nigeria unannounced.

23 August 12, 1993: Government begins clamp down on activists all over the country.
The Abacha Period November 17, 1993:
24 November 17, 1993: General Abacha takes over power following the ‘resignation’ of
Chief Ernest Shonekan. However, this is seen in many quarters as a palace coup by
General Abacha (the most senior secretary (minister) in the ING) amidst mixed reactions
and feelings.

25 January7, 1994: Abacha formally moves his administration to Abuja, ostensibly, like
Babangida before him, with a view to escaping from the political radicalism and
opposition in Lagos and consolidating his power.

26 April 22, 1994: Federal Government releases its political programme in the aftermath of
the controversy generated by Brigadier David Mark’s interview with the Newswatch
magazine in which he alleged that the Abacha government has no political programme
and plans to stay in power till 1999.

27 May 15, 1994: National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) is formed to press for the
revalidation of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and the reinstallation of all
democratic structures.

28 May 23, 1994: National Constitutional Conference elections begin but are massively
boycotted by Nigerians heeding NADECO’s boycott call especially in the South-West.

29 May 31, 1994: Ibrahim Coomasie, Inspector General of Police, declares NADECO illegal,
signaling government’s decision to clamp down on pro-democracy activists.

30 June 11, 1994: Chief M.K.O Abiola declares himself president of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria on the eve of the first anniversary of June 12 in an attempt to claim his June 12,
1993 presidential mandate at Epetedo, Lagos Island. He goes into hiding after the
declaration, for fear of being arrested.

31 June 23, 1994: The Federal Military Government arrests Chief M.K.O Abiola on charges of
treason.
32 July 5, 1994: National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and
Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) begin the longest
strike in Nigerian history to protest the annulled presidential elections. The nation is
plunged into a monumental fuel crisis, causing untold hardship to citizens.

33 July 8, 1994: Riots break out in the Southwestern states, especially Lagos, Oyo, Ondo,
Ogun, as well as Edo State.

34 August 1, 1994: Abacha meets with the Armed Forces Consultative Assembly to discuss
Nigeria’s political problems and their security implications.

35 August 3, 1994: Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) calls for a general strike in solidarity
with the oil workers’ strike.

36 August 5, 1994: An Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Abdullahi Mustapha grants
Abiola a controversial and unsolicited conditional bail.

37 August 6, 1994: Presiding judge over Abiola’s case withdraws, supposedly to keep his
reputation intact and for the sake of justice or judicial integrity.

38 August 8, 1994: Professor Wole Soyinka, nobel laureate and pro-democracy activist,
goes to the Federal High Court in Lagos asking the Court to declare the Abacha
government illegal.

39 August 18, 1994: The crackdown finally begins: the Abacha government responds to the
workers’ strike by sacking the Executive Council of NUPENG and PENGASSAN, and NLC,
closes down three newspapers: the Punch, Concord group (owned by Abiola) and The
Guardian. It announces a partial lifting of the ban on politics, allowing individuals to
‘canvass political ideas’ but not to ‘form political parties for now’.

40 August 19, 1994: Chief Anthony Enahoro, elder-statesman, who moved the motion for
Nigeria’s 348 Enemaku Idachaba independence, General Alani Akinrinade, former Chief
of Defence Staff, Chief Cornelius Adebayo and other NADECO officials arrested at
Sheraton Hotel and Towers. In Kaduna, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former Governor of
Kaduna State, and others, attending a meeting in his house, arrested and later released.

41 August 20, 1994: Chief Frank Kokori, General Secretary of NUPENG is arrested.

42 August 24, 1994: The military government promulgates decrees which put its actions
beyond legal challenge in the courts.

43 August 26, 1994: Government dissolves boards of state-owned corporations and

agencies.

44 August 27, 1994: The military government inaugurates the National Constitutional
Conference. A team of American officials led by Rev. Jesse Jackson visits Abuja to discuss
the political logjam with Abacha and Abiola.

45 August 31, 1994: A pan-Yoruba Conference holds at Premier Hotel Ibadan. Though
divided, it nevertheless manages to ask Yoruba ministers and other appointees in
 government to resign.

46 September 4, 1994: Oil workers call off strike.

47 September 12, 1994: Olu Onagoruwa, a well-known pro-democracy activist, is sacked as

Attorney General and Minister of Justice for disowning eight decrees promulgated by the
Government.

48 September 27, 1994: Government enlarges Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) to 25 and
excludes civilian Council members.

49 October 1, 1994: Federal Government arrests and detains Chief Gani Fawehinmi for
launching a political party, the National Conscience Party, in Lagos.

50 October 5, 1994: Constitutional Conference agrees on rotational presidency between

the North and the South.

51 October 6, 1994: Constitutional Conference okays multiparty system for the Fourth
Republic.

52 November 1994: Professor Soyinka flees into exile for ‘political reasons’, on grounds that
his life is being threatened.

53 November 3, 1994: Olusegun Obasanjo, military head of state(1976-1979), announces

the formation of a political organization, the National Unity Organization (NUO).

54 November 10, 1994: Constitutional Conference okays three vice presidents for Nigeria.

55 November 16, 1994: Constitutional Conference approves the establishment of a

Constitutional Matters Court to deal with constitutional issues and other matters relating
to elections.

56 November 28, 1994: Abacha hosts President Nelson Mandela of South Africa who has
repeatedly asked for the release of Abiola from detention.

57 December 6, 1994: The terminal date of the Abacha government is fixed for January 1,
1996 by the Constitutional Conference. Attempts to reverse the decision were
overwhelmingly rejected the following day.

58 December 17, 1994: Abacha releases Chief Enahoro after four months in detention.

59 February 28, 1995: Brigadier Lawan Gwadabe, the longest serving governor during the
Babangida regime, General Obasanjo (rtd), his former deputy, General Musa Yar’Adua,
and others arrested over an alleged coup plot against the Abacha government.

60 March 10, 1995: Government announces ‘details’ of the failed coup attempt on National
television.

61 May 15, 1995: The National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) emerges as a protest
movement for the revalidation of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential elections,
eventually assuming the unofficial status of an opposition group.
62 May 31, 1995: Bomb blast at the launching of the Family Support Programme (FSP) at
the Ilorin Stadium kills two. This causes a lot of anxiety and insecurity throughout the
country.

63 June 27, 1995: The Constitutional Conference presents final report; recommends
multiparty system, rotational presidency, rejects the 1991 census and resolves that the
military should hand over on January 1, 1996.

64 June 30, 1995: A military tribunal under the chairmanship of Major General Aziza
pronounces judgement on the March 10, 1995 coup plotters.

65 October 1, 1995: Government shows video clips of alleged coup plotters to a limited
audience of traditional rulers from across the country.

66 October 31, 1995: A Special Military Court sentences Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other
Ogoni activists to death.

67 November 10, 1995: Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) confirms sentence and proceeds to
hang Saro-Wiwa and eight others. The Common Wealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG)
would immediately suspend Nigeria from the body until reasonable progress towards
democracy is made.

68 December 12, 1995: Government inaugurates a new eight-member National Electoral

Commission of Nigeria (NECON).

69 December 13, 1995: Government sets up a Transition Implementation Committee (TIC)

to supervise the transition-to-civil rule process.

70 December 28, 1995: Inauguration by Abacha of a National Reconciliation Committee

(NARECO) headed by Chief Alex Akinyele a former Information minister.

71 January 1, 1996: Government frees four political detainees including former leader of
NUPENG Wariebe Agamene.

72 January 18, 1996: Bomb blast at Durba Hotel Kaduna kills one, and injures another.

73 January 19, 1996: Bomb explodes at Malam Aminu Kano Airport, Kano.

74 February 2, 1996: Alex Ibru, publisher of The Guardian titles and Abacha’s first Minister
of Internal Affairs is shot and wounded by gunmen suspected to be hired assassins.

75 February 3, 1996: Bomb explodes at the main Police station in Zaria.

76 March 16 – 25, 1996: Local government election holding in phases, begins.

77 April 13, 1996: Bomb explosions at Ikeja Military Cantonment; one person killed and two
injured.

78 April 20, 1996: Government deposes Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki, the 18th Sultan of Sokoto on
alleged grounds of insubordination and poor leadership and replaces him with Alhaji
Muhammadu Maccido.
79 April 25, 1996: Bomb explosion occurs at the Ikeja Air force base, injuring two.

80 June 4, 1996: Alhaja Kudirat Abiola senior wife to the president-elect and a fierce fighter
for the validation of the mandate, is murdered by unknown assassins in Lagos.

81 August 6, 1996: Presiding judge over Abiola’s case withdraws, supposedly to keep his
reputation intact and for the sake of justice or judicial integrity.

82 September 30, 1996: NECON registers five political parties. These are: Committee for
National Consensus (CNC), United Nigeria People’s Convention (UNPC), National Centre
Party of Nigeria (NCPN), Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), and Grassroots Democratic
Movement (GDM).

83 October 1, 1996: Government announces the creation of six states. This brings the total
to thirty-six. Additional local government areas are to be announced later.

84 November 14, 1996: NECON releases very stiff guidelines for party registration. Some
describe the parties that are registered as ‘Abacha parties’ – perhaps because political
formations of only non acolytes and sympathizers are recognized.

85 November 14, 1996: Car bomb explosion at Murtala Mohammed International Airport
kills 3 persons including the Chief Security Officer of the Federal Airport Authority (FAA),
Dr. Shola Omasola.

86 November 27, 1996: Government inaugurates a 172- member Vision 2010 committee, a
product of the September 1996 Nigerian Economic Summit III in Abuja, which envisages
economic prosperity for the country by the year 2010.

87 December 16, 1996: Col. Marwa, Lagos State Administrator escapes death from a bomb
explosion that apparently targets his convoy; three injured.

88 December 18, 1996: Bomb explodes at Lagos State Secretariat, hits Lagos State
Transport Corporation bus, critically injuring two.

89 January 7, 1997: Bomb explodes at Lagos mainland, kills two soldiers, injures many.

90 February 19, 1997: Registration of voters commences with apparently very low turn out.

91 March 12, 1997: Government charges Chief Enahoro, Chief Falae, Prof. Soyinka, General
Akinrinade and others with treason.

92 March 15, 1997: Election of Local Government chairmen holds on party basis.

93 March 16, 1997: Government arrests Chief Don Etiebet, former petroleum minister and
chieftain of CNC, in connection with the local government elections.

94 March 17, 1997: Warri indigenes riot over local election results.

95 March 25, 1997: Lagos State obas and leading chiefs, rather infamously, declare support
for Abacha government at a public rally.

96 May 7, 1997: Bomb explosion kills one woman and injures two in Lagos.
 97 May 12, 1997: Bomb explosion hits police truck, injures two soldiers and a policeman in
Ibadan.

98 July 2, 1997: Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) announces new polls dates:
National Assembly, April 25, 1998; Governorship and Presidential elections, August 1,
1998.

99 September 3, 1997: Lt. Col. M. Bawa, Military Administrator of Ekiti State escapes bomb
blast.

100 September 25, 1997: Bomb explosion rocks the country home of Akinyele, NARECO, in
Ondo, Ondo State.

101 November 23, 1997: Government adopts the Vision 2010 Committee’s Report.

102 December 6, 1997: Nigerians vote for members of the Houses of Assembly.

103 December 12, 1997: Government announces a coup plot involving Generals Oladipo
Diya Abacha’s deputy; Adisa and Olanrewaju former ministers of Works/Housing and
Communications respectively and an array of both military and civilian personnel.

104 March 3-4, 1998: A million-man march organized by Daniel Kanu in support of Abacha’s
transmutation plan to become civilian president in October, 1998 holds in Abuja.

105 April 15, 1998: Chief Lamidi Adedibu, popularly regarded as the ‘strongman’ of Ibadan
politics organizes a pro-Abacha rally in Ibadan. The rally is countered by United Action
for Democracy (UAD); five vehicles are razed and three persons killed in the
confrontation.

106 April 16-20, 1998: All but one of the five registered parties adopt Abacha as consensus
candidate for the presidential elections.

107 April 22, 1998: Bomb explosion at Evans Square, Ebutte-Metta in Lagos injures many.

108 April 23, 1998: Bomb explosion kills five in Sabo area in Ile-Ife.

109 April 25, 1998: Elections into the National Assembly hold.

110 April 28, 1998: A special military tribunal headed by Major General Victor Malu, tries and
finds some alleged coup plotters guilty of treason and conspiracy. Generals Diya, Adisa
and Olanrewaju, and four others are sentenced to death; while others receive various jail
terms.

111 May 1, 1998: United Action for Democracy (UAD) organizes a public protest against the
adoption of Abacha as consensus presidential candidate by the parties; protesting
youths take to the sheets, attacking the homes of Abacha’s leading supporters in the
South West, (the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Azeez Arisekola Alao and Adedibu).
Seven die.

112 May 5, 1998: The European Union officially declares Nigeria’s transition to civil rule
programme a failure.
113 May 7, 1998: Oyo State Administrator, Colonel Ahmed Usman, says all suspects arrested
in connection with the May Day 1998 violent protest in Ibadan are to be treated as
‘prisoners of war’ (POWs).

114 May 7, 1998: G-34, a multi-ethnic coalition of eminent Nigerians led by Dr. Alex
Ekwueme, former vice president, sends a letter to Abacha, adducing eight grounds on
which the latter’s adoption as sole presidential candidate by the five political parties
breached all relevant laws. It urges him to decline the purported nomination.

115 May 13, 1998: Comrade Ola Oni, a legendary radical lecturer-activist, Bola Ige, Lam
Adesina and other activists, arrested over the May Day riots in Ibadan, arraigned before
the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Iyaganku, Ibadan.

116 May 18, 1998: Abacha raises objection to the suit filed by Chief Gani Fawehinmi
challenging his adoption as the sole presidential flag bearer of the five political parties,
at the Federal High Court.

117 June 1, 1998: Appeal Court declines jurisdiction to adjudicate in the cases brought
before it by Dr. Tunji Braithwaite and Alhaji Mohammed Dikko Yusuf to stop Abacha,
from contesting in the presidential election.

118 June 3, 1998: Constitutional Lawyer, Dr. Chimezie Ikeazor (SAN) files a suit at the Court of
Appeal, Abuja seeking to invoke legal power to protect the presumed ambition of
Abacha, and to the legal propriety of emerging opposers of Abacha’s adoption as sole
presidential challenge candidate of the five political parties.

119 June 8, 1998: Abacha dies, to all appearances of cardiac arrest, in the early hours of the
morning.

120 June 8, 1998: General Abdulsalami Abubakar emerges as the country’s new head of
state.

121 June 9, 1998: Abubakar announces that the socio-political programme of the Abacha
Administration will be faithfully pursued in order to transfer power to a democratic
government on October 1, 1998; declares 30-day national mourning for the late leader.

122 June 15, 1998: Abubakar orders the release of some high profile political detainees:
Obasanjo; Dasuki, Bola Ige, Beko Ransome Kuti, Chris Anyanwu, Frank Ovie-Kokori, as
well as journalists and pro-democracy activists.

123 June 19, 1998: Government sends delegations comprising of all the military service
chiefs to the geo-political zones for the purpose of having a meaningful dialogue with
various interest groups on how to resolve the country’s festering political impasse.

124 June 30, 1998: Government raises a panel to study and aggregate the views of various
interest groups sounded out during the nationwide consultation.

125 July 2, 1998: Kofi Annan, the UN scribe, on a visit to Abuja reports that Abiola longs for
freedom and may have dumped his mandate.
126 July 7, 1998: Chief M.K.O. Abiola dies ‘apparently of cardiac arrest’ after taking ill during a
meeting which Nigerian and United States officials had with him. Complicity of the two
governments is alleged by civil society groups.

127 July 8-9, 1998: Widespread highway riots break out in response to the news of Abiola’s
death; curfew imposed in Ogun State, Abiola’s home state.

128 July 9, 1998: PRC commutes death sentences passed on Diya, Olanrewaju and Adisa over
the alleged coup plot of December 1997 to jail terms.

129 July 11, 1998: Dr. James Young (a cardiac pathologist) reaffirms that Abiola died of
natural causes, of long standing disease of the heart, of a type and severity that can
cause unexpected death.

130 July 20, 1998: Abubakar unveils his political transition programme, declares May 29,
1999 as handover date, cancels all elections, dissolves NECON and the five political
parties, frees all detainees, drops charges against exiles, and makes commitment to
respect human rights.

131 July 25, 1998: Babangida admits, in a New York Times interview that the annulment of the
June 12, 1993 elections was wrong.

132 August 3, 1998: A Pan-Yoruba conference holds at the Premier Hotel Ibadan; calls for
the restructuring of the Nigerian federation and the convocation of a Sovereign National
Conference (SNC) to promote hue federalism. It also affirms the right to self-
determination, saying that people prefer to be ruled only by leaders of their choice,
freely chosen in free and fair polls based on universal adult suffrage. Finally, it enjoins all
Yoruba to participate in the Abubakar transition programme.

133 August 11, 1998: Abubakar inaugurates a 14-member Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) headed by Justice Ephraim Akpata (rtd) to evolve fresh electoral
guidelines and a schedule for party registration and elections within two weeks.

134 August 11, 1998: Government abrogates Decrees 9 and 10 of 1994 which outlaw the
executive councils of the NLC, NUPENG and PENGASSAN.

135 August 12, 1998: Dr. James G. Young, Coroner of the province of Ontario Canada and
head of the team of pathologists who carried out the autopsy on the late Bashorun
M.K.O Abiola declares to newsmen at a press briefing in Ontario that Abiola died of
‘severe long-standing disease of the heart’

136 August 25, 1998: INEC announces election timetable: voters registration, October 5-19,
1998; Local Government elections, December 5, 1998; Governorship/State House of
Assembly, January 9, 1999; National Assembly elections, February 20, 1999, and
Presidential elections, February 27, 1999.

137 October 9, 1998: Air Commodore Dan Suleiman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Bola Tinubu
and other self-exile NADECO chieftains return to Nigeria.
138 October 10, 1998: The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) in London
announces the lifting of sanctions imposed on Nigeria in 1995; ties the readmission of
Nigeria into the Commonwealth to the successful implementation of the new transition
to civil rule programme.

139 October 19, 1998: INEC gives provisional registration to nine political associations. The
associations will have to score 10 % in at least 24 states of the federation and the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT) at the council polls to qualify for permanent registration. The
parties are: People’s Democratic Movement (PDM), People’s Consultative Forum (PF), All
People Congress (APC), Democratic Advance Party (DAP), Movement for Democracy and
Justice (MDJ), National Solidarity Movement (NSM), People’s Redemption Party (PRP),
Social Progressive Party (SPP) and the United People’s Party (UPP).

140 December 14, 1998: Constitutional Debate Co-ordinating Committee (CDCC) headed by
Justice Niki Tobi submits a draft constitution to government

141 February 27, 1999: Nigerians vote in presidential elections, Obasanjo wins.

142 March 4, 1999: Government frees persons implicated in the alleged coup plots of 1995
and 1997. These include Gwadabe, some military officers as well as civilians.

143 March 23, 1999: Government frees eight officers convicted for their roles in the 1990
coup attempt; says they are granted clemency, not pardon.

144 April 5, 1999: Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja dismisses Chief Falae’s suit; confirms
Obasanjo as president-elect following the election of February 27, 1999.

145 May 4, 1999: The Provisional Ruling Council (PRC), under Abubakar’s leadership,
approves the new constitution for the Fourth Republic.

146 May 29, 1999: Obasanjo is sworn in as Nigeria’s second Executive President
Justification for Selecting the above Events in
Particular and the Abacha Era in General, for Analysis
147 First and foremost, the flashback into the last lap of the Babangida era above was to
establish the fact that what happened then continued into and was connected with the
subsequent chain of events in the Abacha era.

148 On the spate of bomb blasts or explosions witnessed during the Abacha years, in
Nigeria, such terrorist bombings heightened insecurity in the country. The police often
insisted that most of them (the victims) were NADECO agents. Cases of hired killings
often with a political undertone, were also on the rise in Nigeria during this period.
Often the killers (assassins) or the brains behind such killings were not found by the
police.

149 The political scene witnessed confusing signals and frustrating moments, for politicians
and the civil society. Other issues included, a bad human rights record, a regime whose
image was dented, and whose sincerity to democratize was doubted.
150 Teachers and students were equally frustrated. For a period spanning March to October
1996, university teachers were on strike to demand for adequate and increased salaries.
In return the military government banned their association – the Academic Staff Union
of Universities (ASUU).

151 For most Nigerians, the Abacha years were years of general suffering occasioned by the
Abacha administration’s economic measures. It should however, be noted that a little bit
of General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s supplementary regime (no doubt, an extension of
late General Abacha’s regime) is included in this analysis because the two are not
mutually exclusive but interwoven, and it is convenient, for maintaining the order of
events and/or chronology as far as what happened during this period are concerned.

Author
Enemaku Idachaba

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