General Abacha

Nigeria is too diverse and great a country for Gen. Sani Abacha, who seized power in November, to rule as his personal fiefdom. He pretends to have started up a constitutional process to replace the elected national legislature, state governments and local assemblies he dismantled. Actually, he is fighting the tides. Now he is taking on the oil industry work force, the source of Nigeria's wealth.It was quixotic of businessman Moshood K. O. Abiola to claim to be president of Africa's most populous country, last month, on the first anniversary of the election he won. The former strongman, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, had suspended that vote, set up a puppet regime, then stepped down after protest by his countrymen.

SKEPTICISM greeted the pledge of democracy that Nigeria's Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar made after succeeding the military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, who died of a heart attack last June.Between last Saturday's smooth election of a new parliament and today's election of a president, General Abubakar has been good to his word. He kept the faith with international creditors, let people out of prison, allowed active politics and ran a fair election.That said, the true task of restoring democracy and the economy in Africa's most populous and potentially greatest country has just begun.

The puppeteer pulling the strings of Nigeria's rulers for the past decade has stepped in front of the curtain. Gen. Sani Abacha, shortly after turning 50, shortly after retiring generals who had demoted him, during protests against his machinations and a general strike, installed himself as president. He dispatched his hapless civilian appointee of August, Ernest Shonekan, and now admits that he, General Abacha, is running the place.General Abacha made the usual pledge to restore democracy and end military rule, while closing publications and local governments.

GEN. Abdulsalam Abubakar faces a choice of two role models. One is Gen. Sani Abacha, the brutal dictator of Nigeria whose death from a heart attack on June 9 elevated General Abubakar to power. The other is Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, the military strongman who restored democracy in 1979. As a critic of corruption and autocracy since, he was imprisoned by General Abacha.General Abubakar has dismantled the apparatus by which General Abacha was going to hold a bogus election next month, the outcome of which was guaranteed.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- In deciding whether to proceed with the execution of one of his country's leading human rights campaigners and authors, Nigeria's military ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha, carefully weighed the possible repercussions.In the weeks before the hanging of opposition figure Ken Saro-Wiwa, the international community had been sending increasingly emphatic signals that his execution would earn Nigeria the world's condemnation.By going ahead anyway with the executions of Mr. Saro-Wiwa, 54, and eight associates, General Abacha seems to have decided that international isolation is less terrifying than the perils of Nigeria's internal politics.

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Defying international pressure for immediate democratic reforms and an end to human rights abuses, Nigerian leader Gen. Sani Abacha announced yesterday that his military regime will stay in power for three more years before allowing civilian rule.The hard-line stance is expected to further entrench oppressive military rule in this sub-Sahara African nation crippled by grave political and economic crises.In a long-awaited speech that was peppered with criticism of his foes here and abroad, General Abacha refused to release scores of political prisoners -- specifically Moshood K. O. Abiola, the prominent pro-democracy leader who was imprisoned 15 months ago.Mr.

NIGERIA WILL be more isolated in the world community than ever. Hopes had been raised that its dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, would use the 35th anniversary of independence on Oct. 1 to grant reforms leading to democracy. He used the occasion, instead, to stonewall.Rather than implement the 1993 election by bringing Chief Moshood K. O. Abiola out of prison as interim president; rather than institute speedy and fair new elections; rather than hand over to caretakers, General Abacha claimed power for three more years.

NIGERIA, a pariah suspended by the Commonwealth of Nations and denounced by Nelson Mandela, has a new start. The rapid choice of an interim strongman to replace the brutal and corrupt strongman, Gen. Sani Abacha, who died of anapparent heart attack on Monday, headed off drift and anarchy.With more than 100 million people and massive oil exports, Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and potentially one of its wealthiest. It has an efficient army that has imposed democracy elsewhere in West Africa while preventing it at home.

WHEN NIGERIAN dictator Gen. Sani Abacha shrugged off worldwide protests and ordered nine human-rights activists hanged Friday, he killed more than his political enemies. The despicable despot virtually assured that he will meet the fate of so many previous African military strongmen who have been deposed or murdered. As mild-mannered playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa vowed in his last words, "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues."The promising future of Nigeria changed for the worse in January 1966 -- just six years after independence from Great Britain.

I HAD AN extraordinary experience when I visited Nigeria earlier this year.Listening first to the Nigerian dictatorship's foreign minister, Chief Tom Ikimi, and then to Gen. Sani Abacha, the country's military leader, I was struck by a strong sense of deja vu.Nigeria was a peaceful and stable country, they told me. The vast majority of Nigerians were happy.The only problem was a small group of agitators, representing nobody but themselves, who were determined to cause trouble.This was their reply to my appeal, made as an unofficial emissary of President Nelson Mandela, for the release from detention of Chief Moshood Abiola, who had won a clear victory in Nigeria's 1993 elections.

NIGERIA, a pariah suspended by the Commonwealth of Nations and denounced by Nelson Mandela, has a new start. The rapid choice of an interim strongman to replace the brutal and corrupt strongman, Gen. Sani Abacha, who died of anapparent heart attack on Monday, headed off drift and anarchy.With more than 100 million people and massive oil exports, Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and potentially one of its wealthiest. It has an efficient army that has imposed democracy elsewhere in West Africa while preventing it at home.

WASHINGTON -- President Suharto, the Indonesian strongman of 32 years, has just been driven from power by an army of little people protesting rising food prices. Thus, he has learned the age-old truism that a leader can steal and cheat and commit myriad other sins, but he dare not take food off the people's plates.Mr. Suharto and his family have been cheating Indonesians -- who make up the fourth most populous country on earth -- since the 1960s when they exploited wheat given in the U.S. Food for Peace Program.

I HAD AN extraordinary experience when I visited Nigeria earlier this year.Listening first to the Nigerian dictatorship's foreign minister, Chief Tom Ikimi, and then to Gen. Sani Abacha, the country's military leader, I was struck by a strong sense of deja vu.Nigeria was a peaceful and stable country, they told me. The vast majority of Nigerians were happy.The only problem was a small group of agitators, representing nobody but themselves, who were determined to cause trouble.This was their reply to my appeal, made as an unofficial emissary of President Nelson Mandela, for the release from detention of Chief Moshood Abiola, who had won a clear victory in Nigeria's 1993 elections.

WHEN NIGERIAN dictator Gen. Sani Abacha shrugged off worldwide protests and ordered nine human-rights activists hanged Friday, he killed more than his political enemies. The despicable despot virtually assured that he will meet the fate of so many previous African military strongmen who have been deposed or murdered. As mild-mannered playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa vowed in his last words, "Lord take my soul, but the struggle continues."The promising future of Nigeria changed for the worse in January 1966 -- just six years after independence from Great Britain.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast -- In deciding whether to proceed with the execution of one of his country's leading human rights campaigners and authors, Nigeria's military ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha, carefully weighed the possible repercussions.In the weeks before the hanging of opposition figure Ken Saro-Wiwa, the international community had been sending increasingly emphatic signals that his execution would earn Nigeria the world's condemnation.By going ahead anyway with the executions of Mr. Saro-Wiwa, 54, and eight associates, General Abacha seems to have decided that international isolation is less terrifying than the perils of Nigeria's internal politics.

NIGERIA WILL be more isolated in the world community than ever. Hopes had been raised that its dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, would use the 35th anniversary of independence on Oct. 1 to grant reforms leading to democracy. He used the occasion, instead, to stonewall.Rather than implement the 1993 election by bringing Chief Moshood K. O. Abiola out of prison as interim president; rather than institute speedy and fair new elections; rather than hand over to caretakers, General Abacha claimed power for three more years.

GEN. Abdulsalam Abubakar faces a choice of two role models. One is Gen. Sani Abacha, the brutal dictator of Nigeria whose death from a heart attack on June 9 elevated General Abubakar to power. The other is Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, the military strongman who restored democracy in 1979. As a critic of corruption and autocracy since, he was imprisoned by General Abacha.General Abubakar has dismantled the apparatus by which General Abacha was going to hold a bogus election next month, the outcome of which was guaranteed.

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Defying international pressure for immediate democratic reforms and an end to human rights abuses, Nigerian leader Gen. Sani Abacha announced yesterday that his military regime will stay in power for three more years before allowing civilian rule.The hard-line stance is expected to further entrench oppressive military rule in this sub-Sahara African nation crippled by grave political and economic crises.In a long-awaited speech that was peppered with criticism of his foes here and abroad, General Abacha refused to release scores of political prisoners -- specifically Moshood K. O. Abiola, the prominent pro-democracy leader who was imprisoned 15 months ago.Mr.

The strike in Nigeria's oil fields is curtailing production and threatening exports and foreign exchange. The bank strike in Lagos is shutting down daily commerce in the metropolis. Power and water are intermittently cut off in many neighborhoods. The price of staples is soaring.These are all political protests against the military government of General Sani Abacha for suppressing last year's presidential election and trying its undoubted winner, Moshood Abiola, for treason. It may well be the people, not the rulers, who suffer from such protests, but it is the people who are mounting them.