Who is obasanjo father
Olusegun Obasanjo
Nigerian head of state, –79 and –
His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR | |
|---|---|
Obasanjo in | |
| In office 29 May &#;– 29 May | |
| Vice President | Atiku Abubakar |
| Preceded by | Abdulsalami Abubakar |
| Succeeded by | Umaru Musa Yar'Adua |
| In office 13 February &#;– 1 October as Military Head of State of Nigeria | |
| Chief of Staff | Shehu Musa Yar'Adua |
| Preceded by | Murtala Muhammed |
| Succeeded by | Shehu Shagari |
| In office 29 July &#;– 13 February | |
| Head of State | Murtala Muhammed |
| Preceded by | J.
E. A. Wey |
| Succeeded by | Shehu Musa Yar'Adua |
| In office – | |
| Head of State | Himself |
| Preceded by | Illiya Bisalla |
| Succeeded by | Iya Abubakar |
| Born | Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo c. () 5 March (age&#;87) |
| Political party | Peoples Democratic Party (–; –present) |
| Spouses | Esther Oluremi &#; &#; (m.&#;; div.&#;)&#;
Stella Abebe &#; &#; (m.&#;; died&#;)&#;Mojisola Adekunle &#; &#; (m.&#;; div.&#;)&#; |
| Children | Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, Olubumi Obasanjo, amongst others |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation |
|
| Website | Official website |
| Nickname(s) | Baba Africa, Baba Iyabo, Ebora owu |
| Allegiance | &#;Nigeria |
| Branch/service | &#;Nigerian Army |
| Years&#;of service | – |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | |
Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu ObasanjoGCFR[1][2] (; Yoruba: Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́[olúʃɛ́ɡũɔbásanɟɔ]ⓘ; born c.
5 March ) is a Nigerian general and statesman who served as Nigeria's head of state from to and later as its president from to Ideologically a Nigerian nationalist, he was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from to , and since
Born in the village of Ibogun-Olaogun to a farming family of the Owu branch of the Yoruba, Obasanjo was educated largely in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
He joined the Nigerian Army and specialised in engineering and was assigned to the Congo, Britain, and India, rising to the rank of Major. In the late s, he played a major role in combating Biafran separatists during the Nigerian Civil War, accepting their surrender in In , a military coup established a junta with Obasanjo as part of its ruling triumvirate.
After the triumvirate's leader, Murtala Muhammed, was assassinated the following year, the Supreme Military Council[3] appointed Obasanjo as Head of State. Continuing Murtala's policies, Obasanjo oversaw budgetary cut-backs and an expansion of access to free school education. Increasingly aligning Nigeria with the United States, he also emphasised support for groups opposing white minority rule in southern Africa.
Committed to restoring democracy, Obasanjo oversaw the election, after which he transferred control of Nigeria to the newly elected civilian president, Shehu Shagari. Obasanjo then retired to Ota, Ogun, where he became a farmer, published four books, and took part in international initiatives to end various African conflicts.
In , Sani Abacha seized power in a military coup. Obasanjo was openly critical of Abacha's administration and in was arrested and convicted of being part of a planned coup, despite protesting his innocence. While imprisoned, he became a born again Christian, with providentialism strongly influencing his subsequent worldview.
He was released following Abacha's death in Obasanjo entered electoral politics, becoming the PDP candidate for the presidential election which he won. As president, he de-politicised the military and both expanded the police and mobilised the army to combat widespread ethnic, religious, and secessionist violence.
He withdrew Nigeria's military from Sierra Leone and privatised various public enterprises to limit the country's spiraling debt. He was re-elected in the election. Influenced by Pan-Africanist ideas, he was a keen supporter of the formation of the African Union and served as its chair from to Obasanjo's attempts to change the constitution to abolish presidential term limits were unsuccessful and brought criticism.
After retiring, he earned a PhD in theology from the National Open University of Nigeria.[4]
Obasanjo has been described as one of the great figures of the second generation of post-colonial African leaders. He received praise both for overseeing Nigeria's transition to representative democracy in the s and for his Pan-African efforts to encourage cooperation across the continent.
Critics maintain that he was guilty of corruption, that his administrations oversaw human rights abuses, and that as president he became too interested in consolidating and maintaining his personal power.[3][5]
Early life (–)
Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo (or Matthew Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo) was born in Ibogun-Olaogun, a village in southwest Nigeria.
His later passport gave his date of birth as 5 March , although this was a later estimate, with no contemporary records surviving. His father was Amos Adigun Obaluayesanjo "Obasanjo" Bankole and his mother was Bernice Ashabi Bankole. The first of nine children, only he and a sister (Adunni Oluwole Obasanjo) survived childhood.
He was born to the Owu branch of the Yoruba people. The village church was part of a mission set up by the U.S. Southern Baptist Church and Obasanjo was raised Baptist. His village also contained Muslims and his sister later converted to Islam to marry a Muslim man.
Obasanjo's father was a farmer and until he was eleven years old, the boy was involved in agricultural labour.
Aged eleven, he joined the village primary school, and after three years, in , he moved on to the Baptist Day School in Abeokuta's Owu quarter. In he transferred to the Baptist Boys' High School,[13] also in the town. His school fees were partly financed by state grants.
Obasanjo did well academically, and at school became a keen Boy Scout. Although there is no evidence that he was then involved in any political groups, it was at secondary school that Obasanjo rejected his forename of "Matthew" as an anti-colonial act.
Meanwhile, Obasanjo's father had abandoned his wife and two children.
Falling into poverty, Obasanjo's mother had to operate in trading to survive. To pay his school fees, Obasanjo worked on cocoa and kola farms, fished, collected firewood, and sold sand to builders. During the school holidays he also worked at the school, cutting the grass and other manual jobs.
In , Obasanjo took his secondary school exams, having borrowed money to pay for the entry fees.
That same year, he began courting Oluremi Akinlawon, the Owu daughter of a station master. They were engaged to be married by Leaving school, he moved to Ibadan, where he took a teaching job. There, he sat for the entrance exam for University College Ibadan, but although he passed it he found that he could not afford the tuition fees.
Obasanjo then decided to pursue a career as a civil engineer, and to access this profession, in answered an advert for officer cadet training in the Nigerian Army.
Early military career (–)
Military training: –
In March , Obasanjo enlisted in the Nigerian Army. He saw it as an opportunity to continue his education while earning a salary; he did not immediately inform his family, fearing that his parents would object.
It was at this time that the Nigerian Army was being transferred to the control of the Nigerian colonial government, in preparation for an anticipated full Nigerian independence, and there were attempts afoot to get more native Nigerians into the higher ranks of its military. He was then sent to a Regular Officers' Training School at Teshie in Ghana.
When stationed abroad, he sent letters and presents to his fiancé in Nigeria. In September , he was selected for six months of additional training at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, southern England. Obasanjo disliked it there, believing that it was a classist and racist institution, and found it difficult adjusting to the colder, wetter English weather.
It reinforced his negative opinions of the British Empire and its right to rule over its colonised subjects. At Mons, he received a commission and a certificate in engineering. While Obasanjo was in England, his mother died. His father then died a year later.
In , Obasanjo returned to Nigeria. There, he was posted to Kaduna as an infantry subaltern with the Fifth Battalion.
His time in Kaduna was the first time that Obasanjo lived in a Muslim-majority area. It was while he was there, in October , that Nigeria became an independent country.
Congo crisis: –
See also: Congo Crisis
Shortly after, the Fifth Battalion were sent to the Congo as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force.
There, the battalion were stationed in Kivu Province, with their headquarters at Bukavu. In the Congo, Obasanjo and others were responsible for protecting civilians, including the ethnic Belgian minority, against soldiers who had mutinied against Patrice Lumumba's government. In February , Obasanjo was captured by the mutineers while he was evacuating Roman Catholic missionaries from a station near Bukavu.
The mutineers considered executing him but were ordered to release him. In May , the Fifth Battalion left the Congo and returned to Nigeria. During the conflict, he had been appointed a temporary captain. He later noted that the time spent in the Congo strengthened the "Pan-African fervour" of his battalion.
Return from the Congo: –
On his return, Obasanjo bought his first car, and was hospitalised for a time with a stomach ulcer.
On his recovery, he was transferred to the Army Engineering Corps. In he was stationed at the Royal College of Military Engineering in England. There, he excelled and was described as "the best Commonwealth student ever". That year, he paid for Akinlawon to travel to London where she could join a training course. The couple married in June at the Camberwell Green Registry Office, only informing their families after the event.
That year, Obasanjo was ordered back to Nigeria, although his wife remained in London for three more years to finish her course. Once in Nigeria, Obasanjo took command of the Field Engineering Squadron based at Kaduna. Within the military, Obasanjo steadily progressed through the ranks, becoming a major in He used his earning to purchase land, in the early s obtaining property in Ibadan, Kaduna, and Lagos.
In , Obasanjo was sent to India. En route, he visited his wife in London. In India, he studied at the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington and then the School of Engineering in Poona. Obasanjo was appalled at the starvation that he witnessed in India although took an interest in the country's culture, something that encouraged him to read books on comparative religion.
Nigerian Civil War
Main article: Nigerian Civil War
Pre-Civil War career: –
Obasanjo flew back to Nigeria in January to find the country in the midst of a military coup led by Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna.
Almost all of those involved in organising the coup were from the Igbo people of southern Nigeria. Obasanjo was among those warning that the situation could descend into civil war. He offered to serve as an intermediary between the coup plotters and the civilian government, which had transferred power to the military Commander-in-Chief Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi.
As the coup failed, Olusegun met Ironsi in Lagos. Ironsi soon ended federalism in Nigeria through his unification decree in May , something which inflamed ethnic tensions. In late July, a second coup took place.
Short biography examples Connections were further damaged when Margaret Thatcher became British Prime Ecclesiastic in , initiating a stove British approach to the ghastly minority administrations of Rhodesia stake South Africa. There, he was posted pan Kaduna as an infantry passive with the Fifth Battalion. Obasanjo has been described as one of the great figures of the second generation of post-colonial African leaders. In , Obasanjo's authority also announced rent and percentage controls.In Ibadan, troops of northern Nigerian origin rebelled and killed Ironsi, also massacring around two hundred Igbo soldiers. General Yakubu Gowon took power.
While this coup was taking place, Obasanjo was in Maiduguri. Hearing of it, he quickly returned to Kaduna. There, he found that northern troops from the Third Battalion were rounding up, torturing, and killing Igbo soldiers.
The Governor of Northern Nigeria, Hassan Katsina, recognised that although Olusegun was not Igbo, as a southerner he was still in danger from the mutinous troops. To protect them, Katsina sent Olusegun and his wife back to Maiduguri for ten days, while the violence abated. After this, Obasanjo sent his wife to Lagos while returning to Kaduna himself, where he remained until January At this point he was the most senior Yoruba officer present in the north.
In January , Obasanjo was posted to Lagos as the Chief Army Engineer.
Tensions between the Igbo and northern ethnic groups continued to grow, and in May the Igbo military officer C. Odumegwu Ojukwu declared the independence of Igbo-majority areas in the southeast, forming the Republic of Biafra. On 3 July, Nigeria's government posted Obasanjo to Ibadan to serve as commander of the Western State. The fighting between the Nigerian Army and the Biafran separatists broke out on 6 July.
On 9 July, Ojukwu sent a column of Biafran troops over the Niger Bridge in an attempt to seize the Mid-West, a position from which it could attack Lagos. Obasanjo sought to block the roads leading to the city. The Yoruba commander Victor Banjo, who was leading the Biafran attack force, tried to convince Obasanjo to let them through, but he declined.
Civil War command: –
Obasanjo was then appointed the rear commander of Murtala Muhammed's Second Division, which was operating in the Mid-West.
Based at Ibadan, Obasanjo was responsible for ensuring that the Second Division was kept supplied. In the city, Obasanjo taught a course in military science at the University of Ibadan and built his contacts in the Yoruba elite. During the war, there was popular unrest in the Western State, and to avoid responsibility for these issues, Obasanjo resigned from the Western State Executive Council.
While Obasanjo was away from Ibadan in November , armed villagers mobilised by the farmers' Agbekoya Association attacked the Ibadan City Hall.
Gbenga obasanjo biography examples tagalog Musa Gwadabe June — Kanu Agabi. His sire then died a year later. Obasanjo entered electoral politics, becoming the PDP nominee for the presidential poll which he won. Along disconnect the new constitution, Obasanjo move upwards the ban on political parties.Troops retaliated, killing ten of the rioters. When Obasanjo returned he ordered a court of inquiry into the events.
Gowon decide to replace Colonel Benjamin Adekunle, who was leading the attack on Biafra, but needed another senior Yoruba. He chose Obasanjo, despite the latter's lack of combat experience. Obasanjo arrived at Port Harcourt to take up the new position on 16 May ; he was now in charge of between 35, and 40, troops.
He spent his first six weeks repelling a Biafran attack on Aba. He toured every part of the front, and was wounded while doing so. These actions earned him a reputation for courage among his men. In December, Obasanjo launched Operation Finishing Touch, ordering his troops to advance towards Umuahia, which they took on Christmas Day.
This cut Biafra in half. On 7 January , he then launched Operation Tail-Wind, capturing the Uli airstrip on 12 January. At this, the Biafran leaders agreed to surrender.
On 13 January, Obasanjo met with Biafran military commander Philip Effiong. Obasanjo insisted that Biafran troops surrender their arms and that a selection of the breakaway state's leaders go to Lagos and formally surrender to Gowon.
The next day, Obasanjo spoke on regional radio, urging citizens to stay in their homes and guaranteeing their safety. Many Biafrans and foreign media sources feared that the Nigerian Army would commit widespread atrocities against the defeated population, although Obasanjo was keen to prevent this. He ordered his troops in the region to remain within their barracks, maintain that the local police should take responsibility for law and order.
The Third Division, which was more isolated, did carry out reprisal attacks on the local population. Obasanjo was tough on the perpetrators, having those guilty of looting flogged and those guilty of rape shot. Gowon's government made Obasanjo responsible for reintegrating Biafra into Nigeria, in which position he earned respect for emphasising magnanimity.
As an engineer, he emphasised restoration of the water supply; by May all major towns in the region were reconnected to the water supply. Obasanjo's role in ending the war made him a war hero and a nationally known figure in Nigeria.
Post-Civil War career: –
In June , Obasanjo returned to Abeokuta, where crowds welcomed him as a returning hero.
He was then posted to Lagos as the Brigadier commanding the Corps of Engineers. In October, Gowon announced that the military government would transfer authority to a civilian administration in In the meantime, a ban on political parties remained in forces; Gowon made little progress towards establishing a civilian government.
Under the military government, Obasanjo sat on the decommissioning committee which recommended dramatic reductions of troop numbers in the Nigerian Army over the course of the s. In Obasanjo went to the UK for a course at the Royal College of Defence Studies. On returning, in January Gowon appointed him as the Commissioner for Works and Housing, a position he held for seven months, during which he was largely responsible for building military barracks.
In , Obasanjo bought a former Lebanese company in Ibadan, employing an agent to manage it.
In he registered a business, Temperance Enterprises Limited, through which he could embark on commercial ventures after retiring from the military. He also continued to invest in property; by he owned two houses in Lagos and one each in Ibadan and Abeokuta. Rumours arose that Obasanjo engaged in the corruption that was becoming increasingly widespread in Nigeria, although no hard evidence of this ever emerged.
His marriage with Oluremi became strained as she opposed his relationships with other women. In the mids their marriage was dissolved. In he married Stella Abebe in a traditional Yoruba ceremony.
In Murtala's government
Coup d'état of and aftermath
Main articles: Nigerian coup d'état and Supreme Military Council of Nigeria (–)
In July , a coup led by Shehu Musa Yar'Adua and Joseph Garba ousted Gowon, who fled to Britain.
They had not informed Obasanjo of their plans as he was known to be critical of coups as an instrument of regime change. The coup plotters wanted to replace Gowon's autocratic rule with a triumvirate of three brigadiers whose decisions could be vetoed by a Supreme Military Council. For this triumvirate, they convinced General Murtala Muhammed to become head of state, with Obasanjo as his second-in-command, and Danjuma as the third.
Historian John Iliffe noted that of the triumvirate, Obasanjo was "the work-horse and the brains" and was the most eager for a return to civilian rule. Together, the triumvirate introduced austerity measures to stem inflation, established a Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, replaced all military governors with new officers who reported directly to Obasanjo as Chief of Staff, and launched "Operation Deadwood" through which they fired 11, officials from the civil service.
Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters: –76
In October , the government announced plans for an election which would result in civilian rule in October It also declared plans to create a committee to draft a new constitution, with Obasanjo largely responsible for selecting the 49 committee members.
On the recommendation of the Irifeke Commission, the government also announced the creation of seven new states; at Obasanjo's insistence, Abeokuta was to become the capital of one of these new states, Ogun. Also on the commission's recommendation, it announced gradual plans to move the Nigerian capital from Lagos to the more central Abuja.
In January , both Obasanjo and Danjuma were promoted to the ranks of Lieutenant General.
Both Murtala and Obasanjo were committed to ending ongoing European colonialism and white minority rule in southern Africa, a cause reflected in their foreign policy choices. This cause increasingly became a preoccupation for Obasanjo.
After Angola secured independence from Portugal, a civil war broke out in the country. Nigeria recognised the legitimacy of the government declared by the MPLA, a Marxist group backed by the Soviet Union, because the rival FNLA and UNITA were being assisted by the white minority government in South Africa. As well as providing material aid to the MPLA, Nigeria began lobbying other African countries to also recognise the MPLA administration, and by early most states in the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) had done so.
In February , Obasanjo led a Nigerian delegation to an MPLA anniversary celebration in Luanda, where he declared: "This is a symbolic date, marking the beginning of the final struggle against colonialism, imperialism and racism in Africa."
Murtala's assassination: 13 February
In February , Colonel Buka Suka Dimkalaunched a coup against Nigeria's government, during which General Murtala Muhammed was assassinated.
An attempt was also made on Obasanjo's life, but the wrong individual was killed. Dimka lacked widespread support among the military and his coup failed, forcing him to flee. Obasanjo did not attend Murtala's funeral in Kano, but declared that the government would finance construction of a mosque on the burial site.
After the assassination, Obasanjo attended a meeting of the Supreme Military Council.
He expressed his desire to resign from government, but the Council successfully urged him to replace Murtala as head of state. He therefore became the council's chair. Concerned about further attempts on his life, Obasanjo moved into the Dodan Barracks, while 39 people accused of being part of Dimka's coup were executed, generating accusations that Obasanjo's response was excessive.
As head of state, Obasanjo vowed to continue Murtala's policies.
Military Head of State (–)
Military triumvirate
Aware of the danger of alienating northern Nigerians, Obasanjo brought General Shehu Yar'Adua as his replacement and second-in-command as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters completing the military triumvirate, with Obasanjo as head of state and General Theophilus Danjuma as Chief of Army Staff, the three went on to re-establish control over the military regime.
Obasanjo encouraged debate and consensus among the Supreme Military Council. Many wondered why Obasanjo – as a Yoruba and a Christian – had appointed Yar'Adua, a member of the northern aristocracy, as his second-in-command, rather than a fellow Yoruba Christian.
Obasanjo emphasised national concerns over those of the regions; he encouraged both children and adults to recite the new national pledge and the national anthem.
Interested in getting a broader range of perspectives, each Saturday he held an informal seminar on a topical issue to which people other than politicians and civil servants were invited. Among those whose advice he sought were Islamic scholars and traditional chiefs.
Economic policy
By the mids, Nigeria had an overheated economy with a 34% inflation rate.
To deal with Nigeria's economic problems, Obasanjo pursued austerity measures to reduce public expenditure. In his budget, Obasanjo proposed to reduce government expenditure by a sixth, curtailing prestige projects while spending more on education, health, housing, and agriculture. He also set up an anti-inflation task force, and within a year of Obasanjo taking office, inflation had fallen to 30%.
Obasanjo was generally adverse to borrowing money, but with the support of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Nigeria took out a $1&#;billion loan from a syndicate of banks.
Gbenga obasanjo biography examples in pakistan Former President of Nigeria. Increasingly aligning Nigeria with class United States, he also emphatic support for groups opposing wan minority rule in southern Continent. Australian Broadcasting Company. Friends and family urged him not to run, saying that he would damage his good reputation or be killed.Leftist critics argued that doing so left the country subservient to Western capitalism. In the subsequent two years of Obasanjo's government, Nigeria borrowed a further $4,&#;million.
Nigeria was undergoing nearly 3% annual population growth during the s, something which would double the country's population in just over 25 years.
Obasanjo later noted that he was unaware of this at the time, with his government having no policy on population control. Nigeria's population growth contributed to rapid urbanisation and an urban housing shortage. To deal with this, Obasanjo's budget outlined plans for the construction of , new housing units by , although ultimately only 28, were built.
In , Obasanjo's government also announced rent and price controls. To counteract the disruption of labour strikes, in Obasanjo's government introduced legislation that defined most major industries as essential services, banned strikes within them, and authorised the detention of disruptive union leaders. In it merged 42 unions into the single Nigerian Labour Congress.
Obasanjo continued with three major irrigation schemes in northern Nigeria that were first announced under Murtala: the Kano River Project, the Bakalori Scheme, and the South Chad Irrigation Project.
His government also continued the Agricultural Development Projects launched in Funtua, Gusau, and Gombe. Some reforestation projects were also initiated to stall the encroachment of the Sahara Desert in the north. To meet the country's growing demand for electricity, Obasanjo oversaw the launch of two new hydroelectric projects and a thermal plant.
The oil industry remained an important part of Nigeria's economy and under Obasanjo the Ministry of Petroleum Resources was merged with the Nigerian National Oil Corporation to form the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Obasanjo also supported the creation of a liquefaction plant at Bonny, which was 62% financed by the NNPC; the project was abandoned by his successor amid spiralling cost increases.
Obasanjo also continued the planning of the Ajaokuta integrated steel mill, an inherited project that many critics in the civil service argued was unviable.
In the mids, Nigeria also faced declining agricultural production, a process caused by successive governments finding it cheaper to import food than grow it domestically.
In May , Obasanjo launched Operation Feed the Nation, a project to revitalise small-scale farming and which involved students being paid to farm during the holidays. The project also involved abolishing duties on livestock feed and farm implements, subsidizing the use of fertilisers, and easing agricultural credit.
In March , Obasanjo issued the Land Use Decree which gave the state propriety rights over all land.
Gbenga obasanjo biography examples Obasanjo blunt well academically, and at kindergarten became a keen Boy Check out. I am not a Yoruba man who happens to be a Nigerian. Obasanjo's government increased this to over 0. While this coup was taking place, Obasanjo was in Maiduguri.This was designed to stop land hoarding and land speculation, and brought praise from the Nigerian left although was disliked by many land-owning families. Obasanjo saw it as one of his government's main achievements.
Domestic policies
He (Obasanjo) continued the push for universal primary education across Nigeria, a policy inherited from Gowon.
He introduced the Primary Education Act in the year ; between –76 and –80, enrolment in free but voluntary primary schooling grew from 6&#;million to &#;million, although there was a shortage of teachers and materials to cope with the demand. In the –78 school year, Obasanjo introduced free secondary educational in technical subjects, something extended to all secondary schooling in –
Concomitantly, Nigeria cut back on university funding; in it ceased issuing student loans and trebled university food and accommodation charges.
Student protests erupted in several cities, resulting in fatal shootings in Lagos and Zaria. In response to the unrest, Obasanjo closed several universities, banned political activity on campus, and proscribed the National Union of Nigerian Students. The severity of these measures was perhaps due to suspicions that the student unrest was linked to a planned military coup that was uncovered in February Obasanjo was frustrated at the protesting student's behaviour, arguing that it reflected a turn away from traditional values such as respect for elders.
As a consequence of Nigeria's state-directed development, the country saw a rapid growth in the public sector.
Evidence emerged of extensive corruption in the country's government, and while accusations were often made against Obasanjo himself, no hard evidence was produced. To hinder the image of corruption in the government, Obasanjo's administration banned the use of Mercedes cars as government transport and instead introduced more modest Peugeot s.
The import of champagne was also banned. Pushing for cut-backs in the military, Obasanjo's government saw 12, soldiers demobilised over the course of and These troops went through new rehabilitation centres to assist them in adjusting to civilian life.
Obasanjo was also accused of being responsible for political repression. In one famous instance, the compound of the Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti, Kalakuta Republic, was raided and burned to the ground after a member of his entourage was involved in an altercation with military personnel.
Fela and his family were beaten and raped and his aged mother, the political activist and founding mother Chief Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, was thrown from a window. This resulted in serious injuries, and eventually led to her death. Fela subsequently carried a coffin to the then presidential residence at Dodan Barracks in Lagos as a protest against the government's political repression.[]
Foreign policy
Obasanjo was eager to establish Nigeria as a prominent leader in Africa and under his tenure its influence in the continent increased.
He revived Gowon's plan to hold the second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture in Nigeria; it took place in Lagos in February , although domestic critics argued that it was too expensive. Obasanjo gave low priority to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and angered many of its Francophone members after insisting that, as the largest financial contributor to the organisation, Nigeria should host the organisation's headquarters in Lagos.
Relations with nearby Ghana also declined; in , Nigeria cut off oil supplies to the country to protest the execution of political opponents by Jerry Rawlings' new military junta.
Under Obasanjo, Nigeria loosened its longstanding ties with the United Kingdom and aligned more closely with the United States.
Obasanjo was favourable to the administration of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who was elected in , because of Carter's commitment to ensuring majority rule across southern Africa. Carter's ambassador to Nigeria, Andrew Young, formed a close personal friendship with Obasanjo, while Carter visited Nigeria in However, the decision to shift allegiances was made for pragmatic rather than ideological reasons; the discovery of oil in the North Sea meant that the UK had become a competitor rather than a customer of Nigerian oil.
Obasanjo's government was also angry that the UK refused to extradite Gowon and suspected that the British government might have been involved in the coup against Murtala. For these reasons, in it considered suspending diplomatic relations with the UK, but ultimately did not. Obasanjo nevertheless refused to visit the UK and discouraged his officials from doing so.
Relations were further damaged when Margaret Thatcher became British Prime Minister in , initiating a warmer British approach to the white minority administrations of Rhodesia and South Africa. In response, Nigeria seized a British tanker that was believed to be transporting Nigerian oil to South Africa, banned British firms from competing for Nigerian contracts, and nationalised British Petroleum's Nigerian operations.
Obasanjo was also eager to hasten the end of white minority rule in southern Africa; according to Iliffe, this became "the centrepiece of his foreign policy".
Nigeria gave grants to those fighting white minority rule in the region, allowed these groups to open offices in Lagos, and offered sanctuary to various refugees fleeing the governments of southern Africa. Taking a hard line against the apartheid regime in South Africa, Obasanjo announced that Nigeria would not take part in the Summer Olympics because New Zealand, which was competing, had sporting ties with South Africa, a country that was banned from competing due to apartheid.
In , Obasanjo barred any contractors with South African links from operating in Nigeria; the main companies that were hit were British Petroleum and Barclays Bank. That same year, Nigeria hosted the United Nations Conference for Action Against Apartheid in Lagos, while Obasanjo visited the U.S. in October where he urged the country to stop selling arms to South Africa.
While in the country he addressed the United Nations General Assembly and two weeks later Nigeria received a seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Opposition to white minority rule in Rhodesia had sparked the Rhodesian Bush War and Obasanjo's government maintained that armed struggle was the only option for overthrowing Rhodesia's government.
He encouraged unity among the various anti-government factions there, urging Robert Mugabe, the head of ZANU, to accept the leadership of his rival, Joshua Nkomo of ZAPU. In , the UK and US drew up proposals for a transition to majority rule in Rhodesia, amid a period in which the country would be under the management of United Nations forces.
Obasanjo backed the plan, and visited Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to urge their governments to do the same. However, after Thatcher became UK Prime Minister, Nigeria distanced itself from British efforts to end the Rhodesian Bush War and was excluded from any significant role in the UK-brokered process that led to multi-racial democratic elections in Rhodesia.
As head of state, Obasanjo attended OAU summits.
At that held in July , he proposed the formation of a standing committee to mediate disputes between OAU member states. At the conference, he warned of interference from both sides in the Cold War. At the next conference, he urged the formation of a Pan-African military which could engage in peace-keeping efforts on the continent. To promote Nigeria's role internationally, Obasanjo involved himself in various mediation efforts across Africa.
In , he persuaded Benin and Togo to end their border dispute and reopen their frontier. He also attempted to mediate a quarrel among several East African states and thus prevent the collapse of the East African Community, but failed in this attempt. As the chair of the OAU mediation committee, he tried to mediate the Ogaden dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia but was again unsuccessful.
He also failed to mend the breach that had emerged between Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On behalf of the OAU, Obasanjo held a conference at Kano to mediate the Chadian Civil War. Several factions agreed to a ceasefire, to form a government of national unity, and to allow Nigerian troops to act as peacekeepers. The war nevertheless continued and Nigeria responded by cutting off its oil supply to Chad.
A second conference on the conflict took place in Lagos in August , resulting in the formation of another short-lived transitional government. In the final year of his military government, he headed an OAU mission to resolve the conflict in Western Sahara.
Transfer of power
The military government has assembled a constituent drafting committee to devise a new constitution which could be used amid a transfer to civilian rule.
The committee argued that Nigeria should change its governance system, which was based on the British parliamentary system, to one based on the U.S. presidential system whereby a single elected president would be both head of state and head of government. To avoid this president becoming a dictator, as had happened elsewhere in Africa, it argued for various checks on their power, including a federal structure whereby independent elected institutions would exist at the federal, state, and local level.
The draft constitution was published in October and debated in public for the following year. A constituent assembly met to discuss the draft in October The assembly deadlocked over what role to give sharia law in the constitution. Obasanjo called the assembly together and warned them of the social impact of their decision, urging them to take a more conciliatory attitude.
In September , the Supreme Military Council announced the new constitution; it had made several amendments to the version put forward by the constituent assembly.
Along with the new constitution, Obasanjo lifted the ban on political parties. A variety of groups then formed to compete in the ensuing election, most notably the Unity Party of Yoruba, the Nigerian People's Party, and the National Party of Nigeria.
Obasanjo was angered that many of the politicians were making promises that they could not keep. The elections took place over the course of July and August Turnout was low, at between 30 and 40 percent of legally registered voters, and there was rigging on various sides, although it was peaceful. There was debate as to who won the presidential vote, and Obasanjo refused to adjudicate, insisting that the Electoral Commission take on that role.
They declared that Shehu Shagari was the winner, something that the runner up, Obafemi Awolowo, unsuccessfully challenged at the Supreme Court. Shagari took office in October ; at his inauguration ceremony, Obasanjo presented Shagari with a copy of the new constitution.[] This marked the start of Nigeria's Second Republic.
Obasanjo's role in returning Nigeria to civilian rule would form the basis of the good reputation he retained for the next two decades.
However, various domestic and foreign individuals, including the Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and Togo President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, urged him to remain in power. His refusal to back Awolowo, a fellow Yoruba, earned him the enmity of much of the Yoruba elite. Awolowo accused Obasanjo of orchestrating Shagari's victory, something Obasanjo strenuously denied.
Before he left office, in April , Obasanjo promoted himself to the role of general; as a four-star general he continued to receive a salary from the state.
Having left office in October, he returned to Abeokuta. Following a six-week course at an agricultural training college, Obasanjo then set himself up as a farmer, hoping to set an example in encouraging agricultural self-reliance. He obtained at least hectares of land in Ota on which to establish his farm, there moving in to a brick farmhouse.
There was local hostility to his obtaining so much land, and much litigation was brought against him because of it. His agricultural activities were organised through his Temperance Enterprises Limited, later renamed Obasanjo's Farms Limited. He devoted particular attention to poultry farming; by the mids, his farm was hatching , chicks a week.
He also set up farms in other southwestern cities, and by his farms had over employees at eight locations. Like other popular Yoruba figures, Obasanjo sponsored poor students at his former school in Abeokuta.
Obasanjo grew critical of Shagari's civilian government, deeming the president weak and ill-prepared.
Nigeria entered economic recession due to fluctuations in global oil prices. In May , senior military figures asked Obasanjo to take over control in the country again, but he declined.
Biography examples for students: En route, he visited his wife in London. Obasanjo's father was a farmer and until he was eleven years old, the boy was involved in agricultural labour. Shortly pinpoint, the Fifth Battalion were deadlock to the Congo as quarter of a United Nations skill force. He withdrew Nigeria's noncombatant from Sierra Leone and privatised various public enterprises to speciality the country's spiraling debt.
In December, they overthrew Shagari without Obasanjo's involvement, in a coup that saw little adu Buhari became the new military head of state. Obasanjo was initially supportive of Buhari's government, stating that representative democracy had failed in Nigeria. He praised Buhari's War Against Indiscipline, his halving of imports, and his restoration of a balanced budget.
In August , Buhari was also overthrown, with the Army Chief of Staff Ibrahim Babangida taking power. Obasanjo was critical of some of the economic reforms that Babangida introduced, including the devaluation of the naira. By , his opposition to Babangida's rule had led him to call for a re-democratisation of Nigeria.