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The Political Economy of Nigeria’s Local Government Elections of December 1998

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

’Kunle Amuwo
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Extract

To all appearances, the transition program of General Abdusalam Abubakar has, from the beginning, been torn between two contradictory policy and strategic choices. The first is whether to appease the prodemocracy and human rights groups by accepting the convocation of a sovereign national conference, with all this entails, including a postponement of the disengagement date. The second is whether to ignore these groups, and organize a rapid, short, and sharp transition program, even if fundamental issues, such as the “National Question,” and restructuring the federation and the military, are sidetracked. By choosing the latter, the Abubakar junta demonstrated first that it would undertake the transition mainly on its own terms and with its own ideas.

Type
Part 1
Information
African Issues , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , 1999 , pp. 21 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1999 

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References

Notes

1. Bourdieu, P., La Distinction, Critique Sociale et Jugement (Paris: Eds de Minuit, 1979), 128 (author’s translation)Google Scholar.

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11. The Guardian (Lagos), February 12, 1999, 24.

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