A segment from the March 01, 1999 edition of News Hour with Jim Lehrer.
** Sourced from YouTube, reposted for educational and historical purposes only **

Former Head of State and imprisoned statesman during the rule of the late Sani Abacha, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo emerged as the president-elect following Nigeria's just-concluded elections. Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, and former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, speak with Elizabeth Farnsworth on the rigged elections. Soyinka makes note of the military cabals who funded the malpractice.

Olu Falae, a former finance minister, was also jailed by Abacha. He was picked on Monday, February 15 to run as the presidential candidate of an alliance between two of Nigeria’s main political parties, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All People’s Party (APP). Despite only a week reserved for campaigning, Falae swept all Yoruba - SouthWest - States but couldn't gather support elsewhere, particularly in the North.

Rumour has it that if Falae had won, the northern aristocracy would have seized power via another coup-de-etat. Though evidence has shown there were problems between the APP and AD accords. Falae, who, at first, vehemently insisted on fighting the election results, eventually ate his words and unceremoniously accepted defeat. This was much to the chagrin of his supporters who claimed he must've been paid off.

Timeline:
- Breakdown of recent Nigerian history: 0:00
- Introduction of Wole Soyinka: 03:07
- Soyinka, again: 07:46
- Soyinka, again: 10:50
- Soyinka, again:


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