Ruler Vows to Install Democracy in Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria —  This country’s military ruler sought Monday to end years of terrible turmoil in the oil-rich, strategically important nation, offering a program of political and economic reforms and a pledge that the junta here will hand over power to a democratically elected civilian government by May 29.

Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, who succeeded Gen. Sani Abacha after he died of a heart attack last month, dismantled the previous regime’s electoral commission and abolished the five state-sponsored political parties that were created to support Nigeria’s late dictator. He also dismissed all charges against political prisoners in this, Africa’s most populous nation.

“Nigerians want nothing less than true democracy in a united and peaceful country,” Abubakar said in his live address, broadcast on national television and radio.

While his transition program had been long awaited and contained elements designed to quell the tumult that erupted here after Nigeria’s junta annulled the 1993 presidential elections, opposition leaders and figures from the pro-democracy movement were skeptical of Abubakar and his promises.

“The bad news is the same man was part of Abacha’s [regime], and therefore the question of whether we can trust him remains,” said Olisa Agbakoba, a lawyer and prominent pro-democracy activist.

He praised Abubakar for dissolving the existing political parties and electoral commission and saw cause for optimism in his pledge that the junta will be short-lived.

But he noted: “We are skeptical because we have been in this process for a long time and we have heard these kind of broadcasts before. When the same actors of the old regime are determining the new transition program, it’s a bit worrying.”

Most opposition members had wanted the military to relinquish power and accept their demand for an all-civilian transition government, a national unity regime that would be installed Oct. 1--Nigerian Independence Day.

Supporters of jailed dissident Moshood Abiola, who died of a heart attack July 7 after four years in detention for his 1994 claim of victory in the annulled election, had wanted him to lead the interim regime.

But Abubakar ruled out this approach, saying “such an arrangement was full of dangers and pitfalls.”

“A government of national unity, whose composition could only be through [a] selection [of its members], would be undemocratic,” said Abubakar, who also conceded that mistakes had been made. “Our most recent attempt at democratization was marred by maneuvering and manipulation of political institutions, structures and actors” in the process, he said.

During the period before the junta hands over control, Nigeria will be run by a more broadly based government, Abubakar vowed, referring to his plans for a new Cabinet. Earlier this month, he dissolved that body, most of whose members had been picked by Abacha.

On Monday, he said he will appoint Cabinet members from a wide spectrum of Nigerian society. He also, in effect, fired regional and local officials who were elected in dubious fashion after Abacha came to power in a bloodless coup in 1993; Abubakar did this by annulling all elections held under his predecessor.

But his announcement that all political parties will be allowed, as long as they are registered, was met with cynicism. “We have no assurances that the federal government, through the electoral process, will give us the right to register,” Agbakoba said.

There was also concern that Abubakar had failed to abolish several remaining Abacha-era decrees that had been used to terrorize Nigerians, such as allowing the government to jail individuals without filing charges against them.

Still, many analysts said Abubakar should at least be given the opportunity to make good on his promises because he has seemed sincere about making political reforms.

He has ordered several waves of releases of political prisoners. Abiola was to have been freed in one of these, but he fell ill and died shortly after meeting with top U.S. diplomats.

Abubakar also has released at least 360 convicts who had completed their terms but who were languishing in prison, and he commuted the death sentences of senior military officers accused of plotting a coup against Abacha.

Abubakar “wants to leave after proper preparation,” one Western diplomat said before Monday’s announcement. “He is looking at this as a fellow who has been given a serious assignment.”

In Washington, the Clinton administration approved of Abubakar’s actions and promises.

Besides the political changes promised Monday, Abubakar offered reforms designed to boost Nigeria’s stumbling economy. Nigeria is the fifth-largest oil supplier to the United States, with sales last year totaling $6.3 billion.

Although this is one of the continent’s most resource-rich countries, many here, because of government corruption, official mismanagement and the wariness of foreign investors, find themselves slipping further and further into poverty and watching Nigeria decay. Among his other steps, Abubakar called on Nigerians in self-imposed exile to return home to help restore their country.

His speech was unpersuasive, though, to some activists here, who said they will boycott the government reform program and launch a campaign of civil disobedience.

“If we lose our lives in order to remove oppression . . . we would have done nothing wrong,” Gani Fawehinmi, national coordinator of the Joint Action Committee on Nigeria, a coalition of pro-democracy and civil liberties groups, said recently. “The blood of guilt would be on our oppressors.”