The history of Nigeria under General Sani Abacha
(November 1993 - June 1998)

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Transparency International Press Release Concerning Olusegun Obasanjo
Former Nigerian President Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo arrested on 13 March, 1995, for conspiring abroad against the current government.
Nigeria and Transafrica
By Ganiyu Jaiyeola, 22 March 1995. Again, objection to pro-democracy intervention by African Americans.
Western investors seek control of Nigerian Politics
By William Pomeroy, People's Weekly World. 22 July 1995. Structural adjustment and relation between democratization and capitalist penetration.
Nigerian Democracy support group statement on the situation in Nigeria
ANC Nigerian Democracy Support Group, 14 November, 1995, calls on Abacha to restore democracy.
Nigerians berate Mandela at pro-government rally
Reuter, 21 November 1995. Abuja rally the culmination of mass rallies in support of General Abacha following Mandela's condemnation of the Saro-Wiwe execution.
Oil Rules Nigeria
By David Bacon, 22 November 1995.
Nigerian minister faces protest over hanging
Reuter, 30 November 1995. University of Ilfe lecturers protest hanging of writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight members of his Movement for the Survival of Ogoni Peoples (MOSOP).
US, Britain, EU refuse sanctions
By Norm Dixon, Green Left Weekly, 6 December 1995. Cosy relation with the Abacha regime and oil profits override action on human rights violations.
Nigerian Democratic Movt. Report
PANA, 23 March 1996. Nigerians return to the polls Saturday to elect councillors for the country's 593 councils under a new government decree which stiputates that court proceedings cannot undermine the electoral process. Scores of candidates disqualified from the first round of balloting March 16 have taken their petitions to different civil courts across the country.
Towards a sustainable vision of Nigeria
By Wole Soyinka, 17 April 1996. No force has yet attempted to, or succeeded in conquering the sense of Nigerian national identity. And yet Nigeria's 100 million people are subject. The amalgam of Nigeria was an expression of administrative needs, but should emerge from the popular will, not imposed by Nigeria's political class.
Repression Intensifies
Statement by the British Committee of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR), 15 May 1996. The government has arrested labor leaders and is restructuring the trade unions and introducing laws which exclude the general secretaries of industrial unions from taking any positions in the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress.
Nandotime update on Mrs. Abiola's death
Reuter, 4 June 1996. Unknown gunmen shot and killed the outspoken senior wife of detained Nigerian presidential claimant Moshood Abiola, Mrs. Kudirat Abiola. Mrs Abiola, the 44-year-old businesswoman has been campaigning for the release of her husband from prison.
Nigerian Government Persecutes Dismissed ASUU Leaders
Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa (CAFA), Newsletter, Spring 1997. Mounting university crisis.
Minister Alleges Foreign Involvement In Reported Coup
By Paul Ejime, PANA, 6 January 1998. Insight into the alleged December coup plot, hinting of possible collaboration of a foreign country. The alleged conspirators, he said, had planned to assassinate Gen. Sani Abacha, the Nigerian head of state, along with other senior military officers and prominent civilians. Opposition groups are unconvinced, dismissing the event as diversionary.
Police arrest 50 Lagos protesters, one person killed
A-Infos News Service, 4 March 1998. Armed policemen in Lagos, yesterday failed to halt anti-Abacha protestors despite threats of a vicious clampdown, while in Abuja an estimated 150,000 people made up of civil servants and local council employees rallied to support the 54 year old general who has not said he will contest elections but is expected to do so.
Environmental action group says military on Shell's payroll
Nigeria News du Jour, 23 April 1998. For example, Shell paid money to Major Paul Okutimo formerly of the dreaded Rivers State Internal Security Task Force for the purpose of invading Korokoro village in Ogoni. Shell was expected to help pay for the wasting operations.
Political Parties Out in the Cold
By Remi Oyo, IPS, 12 June 1998. Nigeria's five political parties are out in the cold following Abacha's sudden death from cardiac arrest, and are seeking new presidential candidates for the coming elections. Abacha had been endorsed by all the parties for president, which raised eyebrows among pro-democracy activists about the military's intentions to return the country to civilian rule.
Why I framed Obasanjo, Yar'Adua-Fadile
By Rotimi Ajayi and Chioma Ugwunebo, Vanguard Daily, 3 November 2000. The man who implicated President Olusegun Obasanjo, the late Maj.-Gen. Shehu Yar'Adua and others in the 1995 phantom coup said he framed them to save his own life.