Nigeria

Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe

Political leader who emerged following WWII who established the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). First President of Nigeria

Olusegun Obasanjo

Nigerian military and political leader who served as military head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007. Also he is a nationalist who loves the peoples democratic party.

Ibrahim Babangida

Nigerian statesman and military general who served as military President of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993 and was statesman in the 80s. In civil war what what

Sani Abacha

a dictator, head of state and Nigerian general, who served as the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998

Goodluck Jonathan

Ethnic Ijaw Christian from southern Nigeria. Former President

Muhammadu Buhari

Young general who is the current Nigerian president (since 2015).

Ken Saro Wiwa

Writer and environmentalist who was a critic of the regime and of the Shell Oil Company's role in Nigeria.

House of Representatives

360 members with a first past the post system lower half and plurality.

People's Democratic Party (PDP)

Dominant party designed to enhance the legitimacy of presidential elections when the country returned to democracy in 1999.

All Progressives Congress (APC)

Largest opposition party that elected Buhari. Now majority party

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni (MOSOP)

Established by Ken Saro-Wiwa in the 1990s to defend the interests of the Ogoni that employed a variety of legal and extralegal political tactics.

Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)

Umbrella organization whose more or less loosely connected militant subgroups have engaged in "bunkering" oil.

Federal character principle

Quota system in which the Nigerian constitution requires the president to appoint ministers from each of the states of the Nigerian republic.

Zoning

Informal system of presidential rotation, established by PDP leaders, in which the party alternates every two terms nominating candidates from the north and the south

Derivation formula

Expansion of oil revenues leading to increased disputes over the national distribution of these funds.

Fulani

An ethnic group that is widely spread/very large, mainly muslim, they love live stock they convert islam northen

Hausa

Largest ethnic group in africa known for salt fishing and hunting muslim/northen

Yoruba

Ethnic group that inhabits the southwest whose members are divided among Christian, Muslim, and local animist faiths.

Igbo (Ibo)

Christian ethnic group concentrated in the southeast.

National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS)

Reform program launched in 2003 to improve Nigeria's prospects for economic development

Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS)

15 West African countries established on 28 May 1975. Its main goal is the promotion of the economic integration among its members

Niger Delta

Best known region where the Niger River enters the sea.

Patrimonialism

Form of government where all power comes from it leader

Prebendalism

Government people give money to whom they like

Resource curse

Economic difficulties exist not so much in spite of its oil resources but largely because of them.

Scramble for Africa

European powers asserting their authority in inland Africa after the Berlin Conference.

Sharia

Islamic Law.

Boko Haram

Terrorist organization in the north, associated with the rise of Islamic insurgency.

Sokoto Caliphate

Islamic empire founded in 1809 and centered in northern Nigeria

First Republic

Established on October 1, 1960 when Nigeria formally gained its independence.

Second Republic

After the new constitution was enacted in 1979. Presidential System

Third Republic

Presidential elections were held in 1993 but Babangida annulled the results.

Fourth Republic

Obasanjo rose to power as the first head of state.

Republic of Biafra

Igbo dominated Eastern Region seceded from Nigeria in May 1967.