Former Military Ruler Olusegun Obasanjo Elected President Of Nigeria; He Becomes First Elected President In 15 Years

Jet, March 15, 1999

Former Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo recently was elected president of Nigeria, paving the way for the return of a civilian leader to the country after 15 years of military rule.

Obasanjo captured 63 percent of the votes, according to Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission Chief Justice Ephraim Akpata.

A retired army general and one-time ruler of Nigeria from 1976 to 1979, Obasanjo returned to power nearly 20 years after leaving office.

Nigeria's last civilian president, Shehu Shagari, was overthrown in early 1984.

The 61-year-old Obasanjo pledged to use his rule to nurture democracy in Nigeria. "An election is not the end of democracy," he said. "Democracy, under my leadership, will continue."

The country's last attempt at democracy-presidential elections in 1993 won by businessman-turned-opposition leader Moshood Abiola--was annulled by the military. Abiola later died in prison.

International observers noted that there were some voting irregularities.

Said former President Jimmy Carter, who led a 60-person delegation of election observers with the Carter Center, "Our delegation members and others witnessed serious irregularities and overt electoral fraud in a number of states." He concluded that "a saving factor was that there was no nationwide pattern to favor any one party."

U.S. General Colin Powell, former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and a co-leader of a 40-member observer team, the International Republican Institute, said, `"We did get reports of serious irregularities ... but I was deeply impressed at what I saw."

Olu Falae, a former finance minister, called the vote a farce and said he will challenge the result, Falae's aides said.

Nigeria has never held a presidential election in which the loser accepted defeat. In both previous presidential elections, in 1979 and 1993, the apparent result was contested by at least one of the candidates.

Presidential elections marked the start of the final phase of Nigeria's transition back to civilian rule.

The democratic transition began in June, when the five-year-dictatorship of Gen. Sani Abacha ended with his sudden death. Abacha was followed by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, who has repeatedly vowed to hand over power to a civilian government.

Abubakar is to turn over power to the new civilian president on May 29.