Enabling Environments for Civic Movements and the Dynamics of Democratic Transition - Nigeria

Period of democratic transition: 1998–1999
Pro-democracy civic movement: not present

Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has been controlled for all but 15 years by the military. Like many other countries in the region, Nigeria made moves toward democratization in the early 1990s and even held national elections in 1993. But the military, led by General Ibrahim Babangida, annulled the elections and imprisoned President-Elect Moshood Abiola. By the end of 1993, Babangida was overthrown by General Sani Abacha, who promised to prepare the nation for democratic elections, though his reputation for broad political repression made many skeptical.

The Abacha government continued to claim that its program for transition was on course, but by 1998 fraudulent mock elections with the potential to aggravate existing ethnic tensions were all that seemed possible. However, in June 1998 Abacha mysteriously died, followed five weeks later by the death in detention of Abiola. The sudden departure of the two most significant figures on Nigeria's political landscape opened possibilities for genuine democratic reform. Army Chief of Staff General Abdulsalami Abubakar emerged as the consensus choice of the military to lead the transition. Parting ways from the Abacha tradition, Abubakar remained faithful to his promise and held a national debate on a draft constitution as well as local elections in December 1998. The electoral process culminated in presidential elections in May 1999 that saw the victory of former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo, the only previous military ruler to have voluntarily handed over power to civilians.

Progress was apparent soon after the elections when thousands of prisoners were released from overcrowded jails and commissions were set up to investigate rights abuses and corruption. Despite continued corruption, Obasanjo's government has proven to be remarkably stable and was reelected peacefully and fairly in the 2003 polls.