Obasanjo, Nigeria and the World

by John Iliffe

Overview

This first full account of Obasanjo's life from 1937 to 2010 combines an analysis of an exceptionally vital and complicated man with a history of an exceptionally vital and complicated country.

Olusegun Obasanjo was Nigeria's military head of state (1976-9) and President (1999-2007). His career is made the focus for a history of Nigeria's first fifty years of independence (1960-2010) and of African continental affairs during the same period (Obasanjo having been an active opponent of apartheid and an architect of the African Union).
The most important African leader of his generation, Obasanjo has had an extraordinarily diverse career as soldier, politician, statesman, farmer, author, political prisoner, Baptist preacher, and family patriarch. As a soldier, he secured the victory in Nigeria's civil war. As military head of state, he returned the country to civilian rule. For the next 20 years he was ceaselessly active, before spending three years as a political prisoner.
Released from prison, Obasanjo served Nigeria as elected President from 1999 to 2007, until his growing authoritarianism and his manipulation of his successor's election ruined his reputation among many Nigerians. This book argues that the controversial end to his presidency must be understood in the light of his earlier career.
The author has used mainly published sources, especially Nigerian newspapers and political memoirs, as well as recently released FCO documents in Britain.

John Iliffe is a Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. He retired as Professor of African History at Cambridge in 2006 and has published widely on African history including: A Modern History of Tanganyika; The Emergence of African Capitalism; The African Poor: A History; Africans: the History of a Continent; Honour in African History and The African Aids Epidemic: A History.

Nigeria: HEBN [PB]

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847010278
Publisher:	BOYDELL & BREWER INC
Publication date:	01/20/2011
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.40(d)

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Abbreviations x

Maps xii

1 A man of controversy 1

Part I Making a Career (1937-70)

2 Yoruba boy 7

3 Nigerian soldier 12

4 Coups and civil war 20

Part II Military Rule (1970-9)

5 Chance and power 39

6 State-directed development 56

7 African liberation 73

8 Return to civilian rule 88

Part III Private Citizen (1979-99)

9 The farmer 99

10 The author 108

11 The statesman 120

12 The politician 136

13 The prisoner 152

14 The candidate 164

Part IV The First Presidential Term (1999-2003)

15 Containing conflict 183

16 Salvaging the economy 200

17 Restoring international relationships 217

18 President and politicians 225

19 Re-election 238

Part V The Second Presidential Term (2003-7)

20 The imperious presidency 253

21 Economic reform 268

22 Africa's elder statesman 281

23 Managing the succession 287

24 Retirement 304

Appendix: Exchange rates 308

Bibliography 311

Index 321

Editorial Reviews

A rich and dispassionate biography [that] offers a revealing and remarkably comprehensive overview of postcolonial Nigerian history.

JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY

A scholarly and very highly recommended study of an international figure who has put Nigeria on the course it is today, for better or for worse.

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

John Iliffe's biography is the most authoritative, comprehensive and well informed account of Obasanjo's rule and personality up to now.

H-SOZ-U-KULT

An important new biography. [...] Iliffe's biography is of a statesman but it is also an outstanding study of a half century of Nigerian politics. His book sets an admirably high as well as a new standard for African biography by which the work of his successors will have to be judged.

THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW

Will surely add to John Iliffe's reputation as one of the world's most acclaimed African historians. [...] The book is an ingeniously scripted history taking a thoughtful and often critical approach to governance in Nigeria under Obasanjo.

THE ROUND TABLE

A nuanced biographical narrative stewed with Nigerian history in global context. [...] This is an imaginative and ambitious study.

THE HISTORIAN

There is little that John Ilife's clear and unvarnished biography [...] fails to uncover.

SURVIVAL: GLOBAL POLITICS & STRATEGY

A comprehensive and engaging survey of Obasanjo's life and career from his birth in 1937 and humble origins to his retirement after 2007. [...] Iliffe's analysis of Nigerian politics makes excellent reading, and underlines just how difficult it is for anyone to manage the Nigerian state.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY

This is an important examination of possibly the most controversial personality in modern Nigerian politics. The strength of this study is that it is an outsider's calmer examination of a man who evokes such strong emotions that studies of him within Nigeria are necessarily tainted by widespread perceptions of who he is. -

Abdul Raufu Mustapha

A comprehensive and engaging survey of Obasanjo's life and career from his birth in 1937 and humble origins to his retirement after 2007. [...] Iliffe's analysis of Nigerian politics makes excellent reading, and underlines just how difficult it is for anyone to manage the Nigerian state. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY

There is little that John Ilife's clear and unvarnished biography [...] fails to uncover. SURVIVAL: GLOBAL POLITICS & STRATEGY

A nuanced biographical narrative stewed with Nigerian history in global context. [...] This is an imaginative and ambitious study. THE HISTORIAN

A rich and dispassionate biography [that] offers a revealing and remarkably comprehensive overview of postcolonial Nigerian history. JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY

Will surely add to John Iliffe's reputation as one of the world's most acclaimed African historians. [...] The book is an ingeniously scripted history taking a thoughtful and often critical approach to governance in Nigeria under Obasanjo. THE ROUND TABLE

An important new biography. [...] Iliffe's biography is of a statesman but it is also an outstanding study of a half century of Nigerian politics. His book sets an admirably high as well as a new standard for African biography by which the work of his successors will have to be judged. THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW

A scholarly and very highly recommended study of an international figure who has put Nigeria on the course it is today, for better or for worse. MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW

John Iliffe's biography is the most authoritative, comprehensive and well informed account of Obasanjo's rule and personality up to now. H-SOZ-U-KULT

This is an important examination of possibly the most controversial personality in modern Nigerian politics. The strength of this study is that it is an outsider's calmer examination of a man who evokes such strong emotions that studies of him within Nigeria are necessarily tainted by widespread perceptions of who he is. - Abdul Raufu Mustapha, University of Oxford

From the Publisher