Word: shagari
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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That common touch has served Babangida well since last Aug. 27, when he came to power in a military coup. Babangida deposed the country's former military leader, Major General Mohammed Buhari, who himself had overthrown the government of President Shehu Shagari in a 1983 New Year's Eve coup. Buhari had alienated the country of some 95 million people with his repressive tactics, which included jailing political enemies and using military tribunals instead of civil courts to dispense justice. Babangida's bloodless, well- planned takeover was the fifth in Nigeria since it gained independence from Britain...
...military, trying to create new political forces to sustain him. As long as Nigerians feel that the screws are tightening on everybody, they will feel better about it." Babangida has been slow, however, to address one of the country's most pressing problems: official corruption. Last month former President Shagari, who had been kept under house arrest since 1984, was cleared of personal involvement in corrupt practices, despite reports that $1 million a day was skimmed from the public treasury during his administration. And a methodical purge of corrupt officials begun by Buhari has been slowed down. Concluded a British...
...Last May, Buhari ordered the brutal expulsion of 700,000 illegal immigrants from neighboring African states, jailed hundreds of political opponents and muzzled a once aggressive press. He also soured Nigeria's relations with its former colonial master, Britain, with a clumsy attempt in July 1984 to kidnap President Shagari's brother-in-law, former Transport Minister Umaru Dikko, and ship him from London to Lagos in a wooden crate...
...When the country's foreign debt ballooned, many of these were left unfinished. Once Africa's leading food exporter, Nigeria became a net importer as farmers abandoned the land for the promise of lucrative jobs in the oil industry. As a result, shortages of basic commodities quickly developed. The Shagari regime's tolerance of corruption only added to the country's woes. In 1983 alone, according to Oil Minister Tam David-West, $1 billion in petroleum was secretly diverted from state oil terminals to foreign tankers, with Nigerian businessmen and politicians taking the profits. Some reports say $1 million...
...Although Shagari permitted a multiple-party political system and won re- election in 1983, his overthrow on New Year's Eve was welcomed by Nigerians. Despite Buhari's increasingly repressive regime and his mismanagement of the economy, his fate may not have been sealed until earlier this year when he ordered the dismissal of 30,000 soldiers as a cost-cutting measure. The cashiered troops reportedly began terrorizing and looting the countryside. Babangida indicated his dissatisfaction with Buhari in a rare speech this year in which he warned, "Those who advocate less spending on defense cannot win." He also proposed...