Olusegun Obasanjo

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Olusegun Obasanjo
Image:Images10.jpg
12th President of Nigeria
Incumbent
Assumed office  May 29, 1999
Vice President(s)	Atiku Abubakar
Preceded by	Abdulsalami Abubakar
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	March 5 1937 (age 71) Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
Political party	People's Democratic Party
Spouse	Lynda Obasanjo (ex-wife, deceased), Stella Obasanjo (deceased)
Religion	Christianity

Matthew Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo (born March 5, 1937) (GCFR, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic;^[1] transliterated: "Oluse-jUn ObA.san.jO") is a retired Nigerian Army General and President of Nigeria. A Christian of Yoruba descent, Obasanjo was a career soldier before serving twice as his nation's head of state, once as a military ruler, between February 13, 1976 and October 1, 1979 and again, since 1999, as elected president. His current home is Ado-Odo/Otta.

Contents 1 Early life and first term as head of state 2 Later career and presidency 2.1 First Term 2.2 Second Term 2.3 Third Term Agenda 3 Obasanjo Administration (4th Republic) 3.1 Cabinet (Federal Executive Council) 3.2 Presidency 4 Trivia 5 See also 6 References 7 Notes 8 External links

Early life and first term as head of state

Obasanjo was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, but he grew up in Owu, also in Ogun State, and he enlisted in the army in 1958. He trained at Aldershot, was commissioned as an officer, and fought against the Biafra secessionists in the Nigerian Civil War. Although he did not directly participate in the military coup of July 29, 1975, led by Murtala Ramat Mohammed, he supported it and was named Murtala's deputy in the new government.

As chief of staff of Supreme Headquarters, Obasanjo was Muritala Muhammed's deputy and had the support of the military. He had earlier commanded the federal division that took Owerri, effectively bringing an end to the civil war. Obasanjo became military head of state by accident. He was marked for assination by coup ploters of 1976 coup lead by army col. Dimka. The Head of State, Gen. M Mohammed and other senior miliatry officers where marked for death as well. But one Colonel was mistaken for Obasanjo and was subsequently killed together with Muritala. As a low profile security policy adopted by Muritala in guarding VIP allowed the plotters easy access to their targets. Howeever, the coup was foiled because they missed Obasanjo, the then no# 2 and Gen. Danjuma, the then chief or army staff, the defacto no#3 man in the country. The plotters also failed to cut off the communication line but where able to take over the radio station to make their announcement. Obasanjo and Danjuma where able to established chain of command and re-esatblsihed security of Lagos thereby regaining control. He was made head of state by the meeting of the military council (Supreme Miliatry Council).

Keeping the chain of command established by Murtala Muhammad in place, Obasanjo pledged to continue the programme for the restoration of civilian government in 1979 and to carry forward the reform programme to improve the quality of public service. When Mohammed was assassinated in an attempted coup on February 13 1976, Obasanjo replaced him as head of state, and initiated a transition to civilian rule.

The model for the second republican constitution, which was adopted in 1979, was modelled on the Constitution of the United States, with provision for a President, Senate, and House of Representatives. The country was now ready for local elections, to be followed by national elections, that would return Nigeria to civilian rule.

The military regimes of Murtala Muhammad and Obasanjo benefited from a tremendous influx of oil revenue that increased 350 percent between 1973 and 1974, when oil prices skyrocketed, to 1979, when the military stepped down. Increased revenues permitted massive spending; this spending, however, was poorly planned and concentrated in urban areas. The oil boom was marred by a minor recession in 1978-79, but revenues rebounded until mid-1981. The increase in revenues made possible a rapid rise in income, especially for the urban middle class. There was a corresponding inflation, particularly in the price of food, that promoted both industrialisation and the expansion of agricultural production. As a result of the shift to food crops, the traditional export earners — peanuts, cotton, cocoa, and palm products — declined in significance and then ceased to be important at all. Nigeria's exports became dominated by oil.

Industrialisation, which had grown slowly after World War II through the civil war, boomed in the 1970s, despite many infrastructure constraints. Growth was particularly pronounced in the production and assembly of consumer goods, including vehicle assembly and the manufacture of soap and detergents, soft drinks, pharmaceuticals, beer, paint, and building materials. Furthermore, there was extensive investment in infrastructure from 1975 to 1980, and the number of parastatals — jointly government- and privately owned companies — proliferated. The Nigerian Enterprises Promotion decrees of 1972 and 1977 further encouraged the growth of an indigenous middle class.

Plans were undertaken for the movement of the federal capital from Lagos to Abuja, a more central location in the interior of the country. Such a step was seen as a means of encouraging the spread of industrial development inland and of relieving the congestion that threatened to choke Lagos. Abuja also was chosen because it was not identified with any particular ethnic group.

Heavy investment was planned in steel production. With Soviet assistance, a steel mill was developed at Ajaokuta in Kogi State, not far from Abuja. The most significant negative sign was the decline of industry associated with agriculture, but large-scale irrigation projects were launched in the states of Borno, Kano, Sokoto, and Bauchi under World Bank auspices.

Education also expanded rapidly. At the start of the civil war, there were only five universities, but by 1975 the number had increased to thirteen, with seven more established over the next several years. In 1975 there were 53,000 university students. There were similar advances in primary and secondary school education, particularly in those northern states that had lagged behind.

Obasanjo served until October 1, 1979, when he handed power to Shehu Shagari, a democratically elected civilian president; this made Obasanjo the first leader in Nigerian history to surrender power willingly. In late 1983, however, the military seized power again. Obasanjo, being in retirement, did not participate in that coup, and did not publicly support it.

Later career and presidency

During the dictatorship of Sani Abacha (1993–1998), Obasanjo spoke out against the human rights abuses of the regime, and was imprisoned with the claim of planning a coup. He was released only after Abacha's sudden death on 8 June 1998. It was after his release from prison that Obasanjo announced that he was a born-again Christian.

First Term

In the 1999 elections, the first in sixteen years, he decided to run for the presidency as the candidate of the People's Democratic Party. Obasanjo won with 62.6% of the vote, sweeping the strongly Christian Southeast and the predominantly Muslim north, but decisively lost his home region, the Southwest, to his fellow-Yoruba and Christian, Olu Falae, the only other candidate. It is thought that lingering resentment among his fellow-Yorubas about his previous military administration of 1976 to 1979, after which he handed power over to a government dominated by northerners rather than by Yorubas, contributed to his poor showing among his own people. May 29, the day Obasanjo took office as the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule, is now commemorated as Democracy Day, a public holiday in Nigeria.

Obasanjo spent most of his first term travelling abroad visiting mostly western countries. He claimed, this was to polish the country image and re-establish the country to international scene after being battered and stained by the regime of Gen. Abacha.

His party, PDP was established without him, as he was called to contest for the president, he was langusihing in prison. Thus, he was not able to control the party in to direction he want. The part became its own opposition with various infighting.

Some of the public officials like the National Assembly speaker and Senate president where involved in intrique conflicts of self important and the prsedient have to battled many impeachment move from both house.

Obasanjo was effective in making changes to the party officials but lacked support in National Assembly, but, was able to passed anti corruption laws, survive impeachment and got renomination.

Second Term

Obasanjo was re-elected in 2003 in a tumultuous election that had violent ethnic and religious overtones, his main opponent (fellow former military ruler General Muhammadu Buhari) being a Muslim who drew his support mainly from the north. Capturing 61.8% of the vote, Obasanjo defeated Buhari by more than 11 million votes. Buhari and other defeated candidates (including Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the former Biafran leader of the 1960s), claimed that the election was fraudulent. International observers from the European Union, and the U.S. National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute also reported widespread voting irregularities, including in the restive oil producing Niger delta where Obasanjo's party had without explanation won close to 100% of the votes.

However, a delegation from the Commonwealth of Nations — led by representatives of former colonial power and trading partner Great Britain and African nations that had undergone troubled elections of their own — were less critical in their assessment. Much more worrying was the increasing polarisation of Nigeria along geographic and religious lines. Obasanjo swept the South, including the south-west where he had lost four years earlier, but lost considerable ground in the North. For a nation in which ethnicity and religion ties in strongly to geography, such a trend was seen by many as particularly disturbing. Other commentators might simply note that in 2003, unlike 1999, Obasanjo was running against a Northerner and could therefore expect his support to erode in the North.

Since leading a public campaign against corruption and implementing economic reforms in his country, he has been widely seen abroad as an African statesman championing debt relief and democratic institutions (thrice rejecting government change by coup in the continent of Africa as the chairperson of the African Union). Critics of his politics say that he has used the campaign to fight his enemies and not to transform Nigeria.^{[citation needed]}

Obasanjo second term have been more effective than the first term. He had able to control the party and got effective support from the National Assembly. Many governors, mostly from his party, where either exposed or prosecuted for corruption. Some ministers and state official too where prosecuted for corruption. The country witnessed trial and dismisal of Naval officers for corruption and similar faith forthe chief of police.

He was able to attract technocrats, and Nigerian expertraite to his administration. They were able to plan various reforms in the country administration. They have made effective contribution to the country econic planning and development. His administration had now established futre planning and development for the country.

He had able to secure load forgiveness for the country while saving external reserves into $40b plus excess crude oil of $10b.

He was not able to tikkle down reforms and development effective to states and local government level, even in the states control by his party. The states and local governments are still riddled with corrupt officials. Also, he still did not find solution to provide police security in the country.

In 2005 the international community gave Nigeria's government its first pass mark for its anti-corruption efforts. However a growing number of critics within Nigeria have accused Obasanjo's government of selectively targeting his anti-corruption drive against political opponents and ethnic militants, ignoring growing concerns about wide-scale corruption within his own inner political circle.^{[citation needed]}

On October 23, 2005 (just hours after the crash of Bellview Airlines Flight 210), the President lost his second wife, Stella Obasanjo, First Lady of Nigeria. Obasanjo has many children, who live throughout Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United States.^[2]

Stella was not the first wife he lost. In 1987, his ex-wife Lynda was ordered out of her car by armed men, but was fatally shot for failing to move quickly. (Blaine Harden, Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent, p. 283)

Third Term Agenda

Main article: Third Term Agenda

Obasanjo was embroiled in controversy regarding the rumored "Third Term Agenda," a plan to modify the Constitution so he could serve a third, four-year term as President. The plan did come into effect, however, Obasanjo intends to step down after the April 2007 general election.

Obasanjo Administration (4th Republic)

Cabinet (Federal Executive Council)

OFFICE	NAME	TERM
President	Olusegun Obasanjo	1999–incumbent
Vice President	Atiku Abubakar	1999–incumbent
Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources	Alhaji Adamu Bello	1999–incumbent
Minister of Commerce and Industry	Aliyu Modibo	1999–incumbent
Minister of Defence	Theophilus Danjuma	1999–2003
	Thomas I. Aguiyi-Ironsi	2003–incumbent
Minister of Education	Obiageli Ezekwesili	2003–incumbent
Minister of Energy	Edmund Daukoru	2003–incumbent
Minister of Environment and Housing	Helen Esuene	2003–incumbent
Minister of FCT Administration	Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai	2003–incumbent
Minister of Finance	Adamu Ciroma	1999–2003
	Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala	2003–2006
	Nneadi Usman	2006–incumbent
Minister of Foreign Affairs	Sule Lamido	1999–2003
	Oluyemi Adeniji	2003–2006
	Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala	2006–2006
	Joy Ogwu	2006–incumbent
Minister of Health	ABC Nwosu	1999–2003
	Eyitayo Lambo	2003–incumbent
Minister of Information and Communication	Jerry Gana	1999–2003
	Frank Nweke, Jr.	2003–incumbent
Minister of the Interior	Sunday Afolabi	1999–2003
	Oluyemi Adeniji	2006–incumbent
Minister of Justice (Attorney General)	Bola Ige	1999–2002
	Kanu Agabi	2002–2003
	Bayo Ojo	2003–incumbent
Minister of Labour	Hassan Muhammed Lawal	2003–incumbent
Minister of Mines and Steel Development	Lesley Obiorah	2003–incumbent
Minister of Science and Technology	Pauline Tallen	1999–2003
	Isoun Turner	2003–incumbent
Minister of Transport	Kema Chikwe	1999–2001
	Ojo Maduekwe	2001–2003
	Precious Sekibo	2003–incumbent
Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation	Ojo Maduekwe	1999–2001
	Babalola Borisade	2006–incumbent
Minister of Youth Development	S. A. Jakanda	2003–incumbent
Minister of Women Affairs	Maryam Ciroma	2003–incumbent

Presidency

OFFICE	NAME	TERM
Chief of Staff	Major-General Abdullahi Mohammed (Rtd.)	1999–incumbent
National Security Adviser	Lt. General Aliyu Mohammed (Rtd.)	1999–2006
Special Adviser on Communications	Onyema Ugochukwu	1999–2006
Press Secretary	Doyin Okupe	1999–2002
	Oluremi Oyo	2002–incumbent
Chairman, Niger Delta Development Commission	Onyema Ugochukwu	2000–2004
	Sam Edem	2005–incumbent
Chairman, National Planning Commission	Abdullahi M. Wali	2003–incumbent
Chairman, National Sports Commission	Bala Bawa Ka'oje	2003–incumbent

Trivia

Obasanjo was mentioned as part of a Saturday Night Live skit mocking the 2000 US Presidential debate between Al Gore and George W Bush. Bush (played by Will Ferrell), attempts to prove his competence in foreign affairs, as he discusses the Nigerian Government: "I've been very impressed with the new leadership over there, President Olesegun Obasanjo, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, his special assistant, Mr. Tunde Olusunle, even the Director General of Public Enterprise Mr. Malam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai. They're all top notch." [1][2].

See also

• Nigerian Second Republic
• Nigerian Fourth Republic

References

• Federal Ministries of Nigeria
• Official Site

This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.

Notes

Wikipedia information about Olusegun Obasanjo This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Olusegun Obasanjo". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.