Obasanjo, Olusegun 1937–

Olusegun Obasanjo 1937–

Nigerian politician and retired military officer

At a Glance…

Became Leading Civil War Commander

Rise to Power and Head of State

Nigeria’s Future

Selected writings

Sources

Throughout the early 1990s, voters in Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, were negotiating a precarious transition from military to civilian rule. The Journal of West Africa reported in November of 1992 that the completion of this transition—one of several attempts at a conversion to a democratic form of government—would be postponed another year. In light of the challenges facing the country, the experiences of former Nigerian head of state General Olusegun Obasanjo, designer of Nigeria’s Second Republic (1979-1984), take on particular relevance. Obasanjo is credited with holding to his word in the late 1970s and delivering Nigeria to civilian rule, although his Second Republic survived only five years. More recently, Obasanjo has assumed leadership in analyzing the problems and challenges facing Nigeria—a country rife with religious and tribal tensions—at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

Nigeria is located on the eastern end of the west African coastline. A former British colony, the country experienced extreme nationalist agitation before finally gaining its independence in 1960. Obasanjo was a student during Nigeria’s tumultuous conversion from a colonial territory to an independent state. He attended both elementary and secondary school in his hometown of Abeokuta in Ogun State, where he was born on May 5, 1937. Having enlisted in the Nigerian Army in 1958, he trained at Mons Officers’ Cadet School in Aldershot, England, and was commissioned in the Nigerian Army in 1959. He then enrolled in a variety of military courses abroad and began a long series of promotions in the Nigerian Army.

In England, Obasanjo attended the Royal College of Military Engineering in Chatham, the School of Survey in Newbury, and the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. Tunde Adeniran noted in Africa Report that Obasanjo won first prize and a citation as “the best Commonwealth student ever” at the British Royal Engineers’ Young Officers School in Shrivenham, England. In addition, Obasanjo engaged in further study at the Indian Defence Staff College and the Indian Army School of Engineering in the mid-1960s.

While taking these various professional training courses, Obasanjo advanced through the ranks of the Nigerian Armed Forces. In 1958-1959, he served in the 5th Battalion in Kaduna and the Cameroons. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1959 and lieutenant the next year, when he served in the Nigerian contingent of the United Nations Force in the Congo (now Zaire). Obasanjo joined the only Engineering

At a Glance…

Born May 5, 1937, in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria; married Oluremi Akinbwon; children: two sons, four daughters. Education: Attended Mons Officers’ Cadet School, Aldershot, England, 1958; Royal College of Military Engineering; School of Survey, Newbury; Indian Defence Staff College; and Royal College of Defence Studies, London.

Enlisted in the Nigerian Army, 1958; served in 5th Battalion, Kaduna and the Cameroons, 1958-59; commissioned second lieutenant, 1959; promoted to lieutenant, 1960, and served with U.N. force in the Congo (now Zaire); became captain and cammander of Nigerian Army’s Engineering Unit, 1963; became major and commander of Field Engineering Unit, 1965; became lieutenant-colonel, 1967, and commander of lbadan Garrison, 1967-69; became colonel, 1969, and commander of 3rd Infantry Division, 1969-70; commander of 3rd Marine Commando Division, South-Eastern State, 1970; accepted Biafran surrender ending Nigerian civil war, January 13, 1970; appointed federal commissioner for Works and Housing, January-July 1975; led bloodless coup with Murtala Muhammed to overthrow head of state Yakubu Gowon, July 29, 1975; appointed chief of staff, Supreme Headquarters, Lagos, 1975-76; member, then chairman, Supreme Military Council, 1975-79; head of state and commander in chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, 1976-79; retired from Nigerian Army as general, October 1979; member of advisory council of state. Founder, Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Ltd., 1979, and Africa Leadership Forum, 1988; member of several peace and disarmament commissions.

Selected awards: Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1980; Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger, 1990; several honorary degrees.

Addresses: P.O. Box 2286, Abeokuta, Nigeria.

Unit of the Nigerian Army and became its commander in 1963, at which time he was also promoted to captain of the Nigerian Army. Two years later he advanced to major, and by 1967 he had become lieutenant-colonel.

Civil war broke out in Nigeria in 1967. The Nigerian Army— previously regarded as a brutal enforcer of colonial policy— maintained its militant stance even after the country gained independence in 1960. When in 1966 the military seized power from the First Republic (the corrupt and disintegrating civilian government in place at the time), it interrupted a deluge of strikes, work-to-rule actions, demonstrations, and riots by the workers and peasants. Protests arose against the unrestrained use of police force on civilians, the inability to maintain public services, and the flagrant show of wealth by politicians in the midst of mass poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and hunger.

According to historians Toyin Falola and Julius Ihonvbere in their book The Rise and Fall of Nigeria’s Second Republic, 1979-1984, Major Nzeogwu, the leader of the 1966 coup, employed populist rhetoric in support of the enraged people and targeted against “all the big wigs” in government. While he termed it a “revolution” for an undefined “Nigerianism,” within six months a second coup deposed him and his populist rhetoric: Nzeogwu’s philosophy of government action in the interest of the common people proved empty, since it embodied no specific plans to change the essentially colonial economic relationships still in force in Nigeria. It also failed to offer an alternative to the still top-heavy government supported by money from those colonial relationships. No action was taken to alleviate the structural poverty and inequity existing throughout the country. While the first coup succeeded in suspending popular outrage, neither of these two coups could stabilize the regional conflicts within the moneyed, ruling class itself. A year later, a civil war broke out in Nigeria; the country’s Eastern Region of Biafra, with its Christian populace, seceded from the central government.

Became Leading Civil War Commander

During the civil war, Obasanjo distinguished himself as a leading general, assuming command of the Nigerian 3rd Marine Commando Division. Under his lead, federal troops split the Biafran Army into two enclaves, making possible the final Biafran surrender less than one month later on January 13, 1970. Obasanjo described the maneuver in his book, My Command, a story of personal and national achievement in bringing the conflict to a close and reuniting the nation. He noted in the preface: “Within a space of six months I turned a situation of low morale, desertion and distrust within my division and within the Army into one of high morale, confidence co-operation and success for my division and for the Army... A nation almost torn asunder and on the brink of total disintegration was reunited and the wound healed.”

Following the civil war, Obasanjo returned to his pre-war position of chief of army engineers. In 1972, he was promoted to brigadier, after which he enrolled in an advanced training course for two years at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. Upon returning to Nigeria, Obasanjo was appointed federal commissioner for Works and Housing.

Rise to Power and Head of State

In 1974 Nigerian head of state Yakubu Gowon announced that the 1976 target date for a return to civilian rule was unrealistic. He postponed the transition indefinitely. Consequently, opposition to his regime mushroomed in newspaper editorials and features. Gowon responded with coercion to silence his critics. The crusade to oust him from office merely intensified, however, and top military officials openly criticized his administration. On July 29, 1975, Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo led a bloodless coup that overthrew Gowon. Muhammed became the new head of state and enjoyed wide popularity in his reaffirmation of the promise to return to civilian rule. However, his five-stage transition program toward that goal was halted by an unforeseen turn of events. On February 13, 1976, Muhammed was assassinated.

Obasanjo was subsequently appointed head of state and commander in chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. He assured Nigerians that he would carry forth Muhammed’s programe of transition on time. His efforts culminated in the formation of Nigeria’s Second Republic in 1979. At the end of his three years in office, Obasanjo successfully implemented the return to civilian rule, handing power over to elected president Shehu Shagari on October 1, 1979, as planned.

Plagued by endemic and violent corruption within its ranks and mounting protests, however, the Second Republic collapsed after only five years. In 1984, under the leadership of General Muhammadu Buhari, the military seized control of the state to prevent its fall to protesting students, workers, peasants, and the unemployed. In The Rise and Fall of Nigeria’s Second Republic, 1979-1984, Falola and Ihonvbere remarked that “once again, the struggles of workers and peasants was practically ’hijacked’ by a fraction of the armed forces with interests congruent to those of the custodians of state power in the Second Republic.”

While in office, Obasanjo had overseen the writing of a new constitution for Nigeria. His government added seven new states, bringing the total to 19 states to better reflect Nigeria’s ethnic diversity. He reformed the system of local government by setting up a one-tier system and by specifically defining its shape, functions, and sources of revenue. But as Falola and Ihonvbere pointed out, the democratic nature of the civilian constitution was limited by previsions that curtailed the registration of certain political parties. Also, no process existed to recall officials seen as inefficient, ineffective, or corrupt.

The most fatal limitation of the new constitution, however, was that it left unchanged the colonial-based international economic relations and the stark division of wealth within Nigeria that both stems from and reinforces those economic relations. During Obasanjo’s administration in the late 1970s, income from the export of oil steadily increased. On the other hand, though, as historian Okello Oculi demonstrated in Review of African Political Economy, Nigeria also virtually ceased producing its own food; imports of food subsequently rose, as did food prices. As noted in The Rise and Fall of Nigeria’s Second Republic, 1979-1984, overinflated costs of construction contracts with foreign firms and the heavy importation of machinery, spare parts, and weaponry meanwhile created a trade deficit and government deficit. Those individuals involved with the sale of oil or with the importation of goods, however, continued to become enormously wealthy. Hence, colonial economic relations continued.

The division of wealth within Nigeria accompanying these trade relations also continued. The wealthy few who controlled state power remained unaccountable to the impoverished majority they supposedly represented. Falola and Ihonvbere recounted that within four years after the begining of the Second Republic, the civilian government employed its police force without regard to law to suppress its citizens. Protest against the government once again climaxed. And once again, the military stepped in to restore order.

Having retired from the armed forces as a general in 1979, Obasanjo joined the advisory council of state and started a company called Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited in Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria. He also became a fellow at the University of Ibadan’s Institute of African Studies. In the early 1980s he began writing and advising prolifically about Africa’s contemporary crises.

By the mid-1980s, Obasanjo recognized that the government he brought into being had failed. That recognition led the former head of state to renew efforts to contribute to stable civilian rule in Nigeria. By founding and working for a variety of policy research and advisory committees throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, including co-chairing the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa in 1985 and founding the Africa Leadership Forum in 1988, Obasanjo continued to study Africa’s problems and advise courses of action to relieve them.

Nigeria’s Future

Addressing Africa’s place in the world in his 1990 book Challenges of Leadership in African Development, Obasanjo expressed a fear of a “new colonialism.” Pointing to indicators of recent African decline, such as the enormous problem of malnutrition, the rising infant and child mortality rates, and fragmenting agricultural and industrial base, Obasanjo described the debt burden as “the gravest problem yet to face Africa since the onset of independence.” While over 30 African nations implement structural adjustment programs sponsored by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, officials from those international institutions assume powerful positions in the economies, central banks, customs departments, and ministries of finance and planning. Obasanjo warned of the power wielded by these officials, stating: “Thus ensconced, no major decision or initiative on the economy can be taken without their acquiescence at the very least. Unless we can summon the necessary resolution to resist it successfully, I fear a new dependence not unlike the old colonialism in content is upon us.”

African historians such as S.O. Osoba argue that economic dependence and underdevelopment will continue to plague Africa even after decades of independence. In his article “The Transition to Neo-Colonialism,” a study of decolonization in Nigeria that was published in Britain and Nigeria: Exploitation or Development, Osoba observed that Britain had fostered the growth of an indigenous elite through last-minute powersharing that would protect the “colonial economic bequest.” From independence, Osoba argued, the British meant to “dismantle their formal colonial empire while at the same time... strengthening their informal colonial powers.” Oculi has shown how Obasanjo’s own agriculture policies while head of state reinforced Nigerian dependence. In his reflection in 1990, Obasanjo described the latest intensification of economic dependence that the industrialized world imposes upon Africa through the essential cooperation of the indigenous African elite.

In Africa Today, Pita Ogaba Agbese, a critic of the current transition to democracy in Nigeria, claimed that Nigeria’s Third Republic would become one more exercise in futility before the military reclaimed power with a renewed lease of legitimacy. In this political context in the most populous nation in Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo’s experiences as head of state and designer of the Second Republic become a crucial precedent in any understanding of the contemporary Third Republic.

Selected writings

A March of Progress: Collected Speeches, Federal Ministry of Information, 1979.

My Command: An Account of the Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970, Heinemann Educational Books, 1980.

(With others) Mission to South Africa: The Commonwealth Report, Penguin Books, 1986.

Africa in Perspective: Myths and Realities, Council on Foreign Relations, 1987.

Nzeogwu, Spectrum Books, 1987.

Africa Embattled, Fountain Publication, 1988.

Constitution for National Integration and Development, Friends Foundation Publishers, 1989.

Not My Will, Ibadan University Press, 1990.

(Coeditor) Challenges of Leadership in African Development, Crane Russak, 1990.

(Coeditor) Elements of Development, ALF Publications, 1991.

(Coeditor) The Leadership Challenge of Economic Reforms in Africa, Crane Russak, 1991.

(Coeditor) The Impact of Agricultural Production and Food Security in Africa, Crane Russak, 1992.

(Coeditor) The Impact of Europe in 1992 on West Africa, Crane Russak, 1992.

Founder and editor of magazine Africa Forum, 1990. Contributor to periodicals, including Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Review of International Affairs, and New Perspectives Quarterly.

Sources

Books

Falola, Toyin, editor, Britain and Nigeria: Exploitation or Development, Zed Books, 1987.

Falola, Toyin, and Julius Ihonvbere, The Rise and Fall of Nigeria’s Second Republic, 1979-1984, Zed Books, 1985.

Kirk-Greene, Anthony, and Douglas Rimmer, Nigeria Since 1970: A Political and Economic Outline, Hodder & Stoughton, 1981.

Obasanjo, Olusegun, My Command: An Account of the Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970, Heinemann Educational Books, 1980.

Obasanjo; Olusegun, Challenges of Leadership in African Development, Crane Russak, 1990.

Periodicals

Africa Report, May/June 1976.

Africa Today, Number 3, 1990.

Journal of West Africa, November 1992.

Riview of African Political Economy, May/December 1979.

—Nicholas S. Patti