Military Rule (1983–1999)

The years from 1983 to 1999 were a second long period of military rule, interrupted by an aborted transition to a Third Republic. On 31 December 1983 the army overthrew the Second Republic and Major General Muhammadu Buhari became head of state. According to the Library of Congress country study, his government set up tribunals against corruption, cut spending and in 1984 launched a "War Against Indiscipline", while harassing journalists and critics; negotiations with the IMF over Nigeria's debt failed.

In 1985 Buhari was overthrown by General Ibrahim Babangida, who adopted an economic recovery programme, promised a return to civilian rule and set up a long transition. Wikipedia records that Babangida's government survived coup attempts, executed those convicted, and in 1989 created two parties, the National Republican Convention and the Social Democratic Party, the only ones allowed to register. In December 1991 Abuja became the capital in place of Lagos.

The presidential election of 12 June 1993, which most observers considered the fairest in Nigeria's history, was won according to early returns by M. K. O. Abiola. On 23 June Babangida annulled it, and more than 100 people were killed in the riots that followed. Babangida handed power in August 1993 to an interim government under Ernest Shonekan, which was overthrown later in 1993 by General Sani Abacha. Wikipedia notes that this was, as of 2026, the last military coup in Nigeria.

Abacha's rule was marked by repression. In 1995 the writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others, the "Ogoni Nine", were executed after a trial that caused international protest. Abiola was imprisoned and died in custody; Olusegun Obasanjo was jailed on a charge of plotting a coup. Large sums of public money were diverted, later known as the "Abacha loot".

Abacha died on 8 June 1998. His successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, released political prisoners and set up the Independent National Electoral Commission, which held elections between December 1998 and February 1999. Obasanjo won the presidency, and military rule ended with his inauguration on 29 May 1999.