Unlike Predecessors, New Nigeria Military Ruler Apparently Didn’t Seek Job

Nigeria got a new president Tuesday, and like most of his predecessors since the country’s independence from Britain in 1960, the new commander in chief wears the green khaki of the military.

But those who know Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar say he differs from the others in a potentially momentous way: The soft-spoken career soldier apparently didn’t want the job.

“He is a professional soldier who has not been involved in politics,” said Walter Carrington, a fellow at Harvard University who served as U.S. ambassador to Nigeria between 1993 and 1997. “From my observation over the years, he is one of the people who would really like to see the army return to the barracks and get out of politics.”

Abubakar was sworn into office in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, a day after the death of strongman Gen. Sani Abacha, who reportedly died of a heart attack Monday after leading the oil-rich but economically tattered country for the past five years.

Abubakar was selected behind closed doors by the ruling military council in what some Nigerian analysts believe was an attempt to keep the fractious country from splitting at the seams. By naming a respected general not associated with politics, the military regime has bought some time to sort out its next move.

“This is a common-sense choice,” said Kayode Fayemi, director of the London-based Center for Democracy and Development, a group that promotes democratic change in West Africa. “They went for a middle-of-the-road person . . . who will hopefully listen to the internal and external forces for change.”

Seated in an elegant room with wood paneling and red carpeting, Abubakar, 55, looked more like a deer caught in headlights than the formidable leader of Africa’s most populous nation in his first public appearance as president. “This is a great challenge,” he said in a hushed voice, his eyes darting behind large wire-rimmed glasses. “And I call on all hands on deck to move this country forward.”

Diplomats in Lagos, the country’s biggest city and the center of opposition to military rule, said there was celebrating in the streets Monday night as word spread of Abacha’s death. But by Tuesday, the jubilation had given way to anxious anticipation as officials indicated that Abubakar intends to honor a scheduled hand-over to civilian rule this autumn.

That is what democratic activists wanted to hear. But words in Nigeria have always come cheap; Abacha first promised the transition to a civilian head of state but then managed to get himself nominated as the only candidate on the presidential ballot scheduled for August.

“Everyone is sitting tight and waiting to see what shoe is going to drop,” said a Western diplomat by telephone. “Anyone who tries to predict tonight or tomorrow what is really happening in Nigeria is someone who has been out in the heat too long. You just can’t do it. It is too complex and difficult.”

The country’s main opposition group, United Action for Democracy, was taking nothing for granted Tuesday and announced it will go forward with street demonstrations planned for Friday.

The protests will mark the fifth anniversary of the last presidential election, won by southern businessman Moshood Abiola but annulled by the military, which has its base of support in the north. Abiola was imprisoned a year later and remains locked up.

“We shall accept no old wine in new wineskins, however thirsty we may be for change,” United Action for Democracy said in a statement.

As a practical matter, the country’s deepening economic crisis may put a lid on any grandiose display of disaffection with the military leadership. Even though Nigeria is ranked as the world’s sixth-largest oil exporter, its crippled economy is plagued by a severe gasoline shortage.

Despite Abacha’s notoriety as a brutal, corrupt dictator, leaders across Africa, holding a summit in nearby Burkina Faso, approached his passing with delicacy Tuesday.

He was praised by his fellow African leaders for contributions to democracy in West Africa--Nigerian-led troops, for example, recently restored civilian government in Sierra Leone--while his successor was gently nudged to consider reintroducing the same in his own land. There was no mention of Abacha’s reign of terror, which attracted the international spotlight in 1995 with the hanging of several prominent human rights activists but which was quietly unrelenting throughout his rule.

Even South African President Nelson Mandela, who broke ranks with Abacha over the 1995 executions, was uncritical in his remarks Tuesday.

The soft-glove approach is in keeping with the tradition among African leaders of minding their own business--at least when it comes to their peers’ transgressions.

But it may also be an effort to give the new leadership room to maneuver. In Washington, State Department officials were less generous, having long ago lost any love for Abacha. State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said Abubakar appeared to be better equipped than Abacha to lead the transition to democratic civilian rule.

“We generally regard him as someone who’s capable of taking this historic decision, and we very much want him to do so,” Rubin said.