Olusegun Obasanjo (1997)
When Olusegun Obasanjo was awarded the LI Prize for Freedom 1997, he was in prison. He had been sentenced in 1995 under the rule of General Sani Abacha for an alleged coup plot. He was a four-star General and former President being jailed in his own country as a prisoner of conscience. The Prize was therefore presented to his wife Stella, who accepted the award on his behalf.
In October 1998, Olusegun Obasanjo was released. He decided to run for the Presidency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). At the elections in February 1999, he won a landslide victory of 62.8% against his opponent Chief Olu Falae. The elections were closely monitored by the USA. Large-scale fraud was observed, but it occurred on both sides.
Olusegun Obasanjo is a source of great hope for the democracy in Nigeria. At the end of his first presidency in 1976, he became the first military ruler to willingly hand over leadership to a civilian government, thus setting an example for Abdulsalami Abubakar, who would hand leadership back to Obasanjo more than twenty years later.
One of his most important future challenges will be to overcome the violent ethnic clashes in Nigeria. Obasanjo comes from South Yoruba, to whom North Yoruba and Ibo traditionally are opposed. Further, there is the risk of military take-overs. Obasanjo's military experience may help to to keep the balance and prevent coup attempts. Another important issue is the problem of his economic mismanagement in the 1970s during his fist term in office.
As President, Obasanjo has energetically opposed wide-spread corruption. Right after the elections, he also travelled to the USA, where he met with representatives from both the US and the United Nations, and where he appears to have established close links.