A Brief History of Democracy in Nigeria
The spirit of democracy cannot be imposed from without. It has to come from within.
~ Mahatma Gandhi
Happy Democracy Day to Nigerians
Today I want to go down the timeline of democracy in Nigeria & give a brief history. When we talk about democracy in Nigeria, the infamous 1993 elections is the first thing that comes to mind. However, what most Nigerians do not know is that Nigeria actually had a democratically elected president between 1979 - 1983.
Nigeria got it's Independence from British rule on the 1st of October 1960. Independence came to a lot of African states during the 1960s & afterwards. It was a thing of pride to finally be free from the shackles of colonialism considering this is also a continent that has a history of slavery.
Nigeria becomes 59 years since Independence in October but has only practised continuous democracy for 20 years. Before that it was one military government overturning the other.
Just last year the Nigerian government decided to move the Democracy Day commemoration from May 29th to June 12th in honour of the June 12, 1993 elections which was annulled by the then Head of State General Ibrahim Babaginda.
Alhaji Shehu Shagari was the first civilian president in Nigeria to come to power in 1979. In August-September 1983, President Shagari was re-elected amid accusations of irregularities. Later in December 1983, Maj-Gen Muhammad Buhari seized power in bloodless coup.
1993 saw Nigerians witness a nation wide general elections. The elections was the second attempt to restore democracy in Nigeria which saw Moshood (M.K.O) Abiola emerge victorious before that unpopular decision by the then government to cancel the elections which caused a lot of backlash.
Later in 1993, General Abacha seized power from General Babangida which caused a lot of instability. Abiola would go on to proclaim himself president in 1994. Something the Head of State was not happy about. Abiola was arrested & jailed.
In 1998, General Abacha died in office & was succeeded by Maj-Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar. Unfortunately, Moshood Abiola dies in custody a month later. But it was Maj-Gen Abdulsalami who would go on to oversee the 1999 elections that ushered in the stable democracy the oil-rich country enjoys today.
Olusegun Obasanjo became the first civilian president since end of military rule & today Mahammadu Buhari is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria after successfully winning his rerun mandate under the APC party.
