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During Abacha's
brutal regime, former military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo,
who had overseen a transition to democracy 20 years earlier, was
accused of plotting a coup against the government and sentenced
to 25 years in prison. Following Abacha's death, however, his
successor released Obasanjo. Still widely supported for following
through with his pledge to relinquish power in 1979, 20 years
later he was elected president on May 29, 1999.
Obasanjo's
electoral victory was widely seen as the most promising development
in Nigeria in decades; however, there were still causes for concern.
Chris Fomunyoh, regional director of Central and West Africa Programs
for the National Democratic Institute (NDI), told the Online NewsHour
that in 1999 most Nigerians were primarily interested in getting
the military out of the political process and back to the barracks.
In order to achieve that, he said, they were willing to live with
an electoral process that still suffered considerable shortcomings.
Regional and
religious violence has killed more than 10,000 people during the
Obasanjo presidency and the economy has continued to struggle.
Despite these problems, Obasanjo won his second four-year term
as president in April 2003 in an election contested by opposition
members who said they would not recognize the president's authority.
NDI's Chris
Fomunyoh said most Nigerians hope Obasanjo will use his next term
to take concrete measures to help consolidate democracy in the
country.
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By Jessica Moore, Online NewsHour
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"The
task of reconstructing Nigeria would have been a lot easier
if Nigeria were a mere mechanical contraption that could be put
on a block, its useful parts salvaged, and its useless parts thrown
away. But Nigeria happens to be a living vital and dynamic entity.
It has consequently been a formidable task to reconstruct what
it took nearly two decades to destroy, and the challenge has been
all- pervasive, economic, political, social, moral and cultural."
