Former Nigerian Military Leader Receives Peace Prize in Chicago
August 9, 1999 - 0:0
CHICAGO -- Former Nigerian leader Abdulsalami Abubakar received a peace prize here Saturday from a prominent U.S. civil rights group, the Rainbow/Push Coalition. "My administration left Nigeria a more united, peaceful and internationally respected country than when we came on the center stage in less than one year," Abubakar said in his acceptance speech. Reverend Jesse Jackson, the group's president and founder, presented the international peace and justice award at the group's 28th annual conference.
"He led Nigeria from a deep dark night, and all of west Africa, into a new millennium," Jackson said. Abubakar, a career soldier since 1963, succeeded military dictator Sani Abacha, who ruled the country with little regard for human or civil rights from 1993 until his sudden death in June of 1998. Oil-rich Nigeria has been under military rule for 29 of the 39 years since its independence from Great Britain. During his year in power, Abubakar freed political prisoners, called for the return of political exiles, opened the political process to independent parties and held elections observed by human rights groups.
On May 29, former military ruler and political prisoner General Olesegun Obasanjo was sworn in as an elected president. Most economic sanctions by other governments have been lifted since these reforms. "We succeeded in the efforts to build confidence in our people and in the minds of our foreign investors and technical partners," Abubakar said. Representatives from government and the Coca Cola company called for increased investment in Africa, the world's least industrialized continent, as a means to increase globalization and stabilize fledgling democracies.
Foreign investment and debt relief remained a focus of Abubakar's acceptance speech. "Without assistance in these areas," he said, "the present administration might find itself hampered in the execution of the programs it has designed for economic growth, poverty alleviation and enhancement of the general welfare of the people." (AFP)
"He led Nigeria from a deep dark night, and all of west Africa, into a new millennium," Jackson said. Abubakar, a career soldier since 1963, succeeded military dictator Sani Abacha, who ruled the country with little regard for human or civil rights from 1993 until his sudden death in June of 1998. Oil-rich Nigeria has been under military rule for 29 of the 39 years since its independence from Great Britain. During his year in power, Abubakar freed political prisoners, called for the return of political exiles, opened the political process to independent parties and held elections observed by human rights groups.
On May 29, former military ruler and political prisoner General Olesegun Obasanjo was sworn in as an elected president. Most economic sanctions by other governments have been lifted since these reforms. "We succeeded in the efforts to build confidence in our people and in the minds of our foreign investors and technical partners," Abubakar said. Representatives from government and the Coca Cola company called for increased investment in Africa, the world's least industrialized continent, as a means to increase globalization and stabilize fledgling democracies.
Foreign investment and debt relief remained a focus of Abubakar's acceptance speech. "Without assistance in these areas," he said, "the present administration might find itself hampered in the execution of the programs it has designed for economic growth, poverty alleviation and enhancement of the general welfare of the people." (AFP)