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Olusegun Obasanjo (military dictator from 1976 to 1979, and civilian president from 1999 to 2007) has very close ties to the military, and the country has experienced several coups. Since winning independence in 1960, Nigeria has experienced one outright civil war and a fairly constant set of regional (often ethnic or religious based) challenges to its authority.

The comparison to Indonesia is fairly straightforward on those counts. It won independence five years later, and quickly lost its civilian government. The military dictatorship allowed for an internationally monitored election also in 1999 but the country is an ethnic patchwork held together partly by force, and which has experienced outright civil war several times, and a successful secession movement once.

In either Nigeria's or Indonesia's case, is it any wonder the military keeps taking power? With the frequent outbreak of violence and the strong regional challenges to a central government, and with the government's inability in each case to satisfy the people's needs enough to buy their acquiescence, there's little holding either Indonesia or Nigeria together besides the military.

This is a whole lot of answer to a question that may have been much simpler, the result of a mistaken impression that all African leaders and only African leaders are power-hungry. The list of African leaders who have given up power in favor of principle is short but illustrious it includes Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, and Sir Seretse Khama. And the list of non-African leaders who cling to power at the expense of their peoples is long and odious it includes Fidel Castro, Erich Honecker of Soviet East Germany, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, and Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran.

Learn more about this author, Stephen Shea.
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