ABSTRACT
Nigeria is the most populated of the sub-Saharan countries, indeed markedly more populated than the second country in the region, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Olusegun Obasanjo was indeed remarkable for being able during that period to provide Nigeria with the first opportunity which the country had to be ruled by a constitutional government. Obasanjo came from a Yoruba family, near Lagos, which can be traced for generations in the area; but he was in no sense part of the elite. The chapter discusses the characteristics of government in Nigeria under Obasanjo both under military and under constitutional rule. The question was whether civilian rule was to be restored, but meanwhile, “the military regime ‘made consultation and discussion essential ingredients of military government’, Obasanjo observed”. “The greatest danger lies in the failure of the military to break the vicious cycle of succeeding itself.
