Fate Gives Nigeria a Break

The unexpected death of Nigeria’s military dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha, presents an equally unexpected break for his beleaguered West African country and the chance of restored democracy and prosperity. No progress was in prospect before Abacha’s fatal heart attack Monday.

Delivered from Abacha’s murderous oppression and ravenous corruption, key Nigerian civilians now are demanding the release of Moshood Abiola, a wealthy businessman who was imprisoned in 1994 when he tried to claim the presidency to which he apparently was elected before Abacha’s military predecessor annulled the vote. Abiola rightfully should take the reins, but that is not the way politics works in a nation that has known more dictators than democratic rule in its 37 years of independence.

Abacha’s military regime has already anointed another career military man, Maj. Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, whom a State Department spokesman in Washington called a “well-respected professional.” Nigeria will soon test that appraisal. The question is whether the military will continue the tradition of no justice and no dissent or restore Nigeria to its station as one of Africa’s most advanced nations.

On his first day in office, Abubakar promised to fulfill Abacha’s promise to restore civilian rule on Oct. 1, a promise that no Nigerian democratic activist expected the dictator to keep. Nothing was said about new elections, which had been scheduled for Aug. 1. Under Abacha’s hand, those elections had been expected to be a sham, with him the only candidate. Death, the only thing that could remove him from power, came along first.

During his tenure, Abacha ordered the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a noted writer and staunch opponent of the junta, and the deaths of many other Nigerians who opposed his harsh rule. The general plundered the nation’s oil profits while his countrymen waited in endless lines for fuel. He made Nigeria, once a jewel of the African independence movement, a pit of corruption. Now Abacha is gone, and his country must seize the opportunity to restore democracy.