The Military Topples President Shagari
The first term (of 4 years) of Shagari was beset by economic problems largely due to a decline in oil demand in the international market. He was generally accused of failing to clamp down on corruption and of perpetuating an ever-large bureaucracy. Most ministers in his first cabinet were widely suspected of receiving bribes on government contracts.
Figure 103: SHEHU SHAGARI was a man of reconciliation. In 1983 he pardoned Ojukwu and Gowon and allowed them to return to Nigeria if they so wished. Ojukwu returned home, joined Shagari's political party and even contested a seat in the country's senate.
Figure 103: SHEHU SHAGARI was a man of reconciliation. In 1983 he pardoned Ojukwu and Gowon and allowed them to return to Nigeria if they so wished. Ojukwu returned home, joined Shagari's political party and even contested a seat in the country's senate.
Shagari worked tirelessly to get rid of the shameful stigma of tribalism. His Vice-President was Dr. Alex Ekwueme (an Ibo). Shagari's party had the broadest national following.
In the August 1983 presidential elections, Shagari retained the presidency. According to the constitution, he was to step down in 1987, at the end of his second term. There were cases of alleged rigging of the elections, and in the west over 100 people died in electoral violence. Loud protests greeted his party's victory with courts adjudicating in election disputes even right up to his inauguration. All in all, Shagari won the presidential election with a massive four million majority.
But alas, on the 1984 New Year eve, the Nigerian military staged a coup and arrested Shagari and most of his ministers. Thus, Africa's largest democracy foundered. The soldiers entrusted the leadership of the country to Maj-Gen. Muhammad Buhari (a Northerner). The military accused Shagari of:
Keeping rapacious and corrupt government officers;
Wasting public money in unviable projects;
Disregarding the good management advice government agencies had provided;
Failing to enforce financial austerity during hard times.
After the coup any person called a politician was arrested. At least 500 of them were arrested and jailed often without trial. The new rulers set up scores of commissions of enquiry, and appointed courts to try suspected offences of corruption, currency-dealing and economic sabotage. For journalists, special courts were set up with powers to impose jail sentences of a maximum of 20 years and confiscate printing presses for the publication of "untrue information,"
Wasting public money in unviable projects;
Disregarding the good management advice government agencies had provided;
Failing to enforce financial austerity during hard times.
After the coup any person called a politician was arrested. At least 500 of them were arrested and jailed often without trial. The new rulers set up scores of commissions of enquiry, and appointed courts to try suspected offences of corruption, currency-dealing and economic sabotage. For journalists, special courts were set up with powers to impose jail sentences of a maximum of 20 years and confiscate printing presses for the publication of "untrue information,"
Putsch of Dec. 31, 1983:
Having been installed on October 1, 1979, Shagari ended his first term four years after. It was a turbulent period for the ruling National Party of Nigeria and the incumbent Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Nigeria’s economy had taken a downward slide and the standard of living was nothing to be discussed in the open. There were other allegations of reckless squandering of the national wealth.
But all these did not stop Shagari from being re-elected in 1983 even with protests of electoral fraud by the other parties. Barely three months into the second term of that regime, the overthrow bug crawled back to suck the blood of Nigerians. Amid national outcry of wasteful spendings by some government functionaries, Brig. Sani Abacha came on air, December 31, 1983 to announce the administration’s death.
But all these did not stop Shagari from being re-elected in 1983 even with protests of electoral fraud by the other parties. Barely three months into the second term of that regime, the overthrow bug crawled back to suck the blood of Nigerians. Amid national outcry of wasteful spendings by some government functionaries, Brig. Sani Abacha came on air, December 31, 1983 to announce the administration’s death.
Losers:
Though Brigadier Ibrahim Bako was recorded to have died in that change of power, the intervention of the military in another democratic dispensation, was one in which blood was not shed. Most of the civilian administrators voluntarily reported at the offices of the security agencies from where their journeys to long agonising imprisonments started. In the usual cycle, the man who is overthrown becomes the biggest loser. In this regard, Shagari was the topmost casualty. Then, there was Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the Second Republic Vice-President as well as Drs. Olusola Saraki, Joseph Wayas and Chief Edwin Umezuoke, the leaders of the National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives).
At the state levels, the governors as well as their deputies and assemblymen also were forced to say bye to their dreams of running their full term. It was the same fate for NPN, NPP, UPN, GNPP and PRP, the five parties that were proscribed following the mutiny.
Survivors:
Major-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari took over from where Shagari left. He had Major-Gen. Tunde Idiagbon as the man next to him. There were also collaborators in Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha plus others. But the beauty of the take-over was that again, it was bloodless. And so was the one which brought in Gen. Babangida two years later.
National Movements and New States in Africa