Word: yoruba
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...military has governed ever since. Falae is a Yale-educated economist who served as Babangida's finance minister, although he campaigned against Obasanjo on the grounds of the general's links with the military. The deeper issue may be tribal: Falae and Obasanjo are both members of the Christian Yoruba tribe from the southwest, but Obasanjo has the backing of much of the north, the Muslim Hausa-Fulani elite who run the military. The Yoruba and the southeastern Igbo people are bitterly resentful that successive military governments have plundered the wealth derived from the rich oil fields of the impoverished...
Santeria is a Cuban religion with traditions drawn from Yoruba tribal worship and blended with Roman Catholicism...
...many Nigerians--especially those in the Yoruba-dominated southwest, where Abiola hailed from--memories go back only five years, to Nigeria's last ill-fated attempt to elect a civilian regime. Abiola appeared to win that election, even if he did it by dumping money on the electorate. But Nigeria's military bosses refused to accept the result and annulled the election. A year later, after Abiola proclaimed himself President anyway, a new strongman, General Sani Abacha, charged him with treason and clapped him in prison. After four years of mostly solitary confinement, Abiola's spirit appeared to be broken...
...Abiola, once close to the military rulers, had bridged the gulf between the northern Hausa group (which dominates the military) and the Ibo and Yoruba groups that populate the wealthier southern regions. His loss leaves a void of candidates that could unite the fractious electorate of Africa's most populous nation in October's scheduled poll...
Abiola would like nothing better than to devote herself full time to shaping her homeland's future. But she has other responsibilities as well. Though she grew up as part of the Yoruba elite, her family's mansion filled with servants and visitors, she was effectively orphaned after her mother's death. Now, having graduated from Harvard, she heads a household of five in a suburb near the U.S. capital. Her two teenage sisters are in college, and she sends her two younger brothers to public schools. With most of her family's assets frozen, she works full time...