The Light That Failed

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As an exiled Nigerian lawyer put it, "Far better to have a shabby democracy in which people have some say in the running of things than a shabby military regime in which they have none." The liberal Rand Daily Mail of Johannesburg feared that the coup would bring "foolish and shortsighted satisfaction" to those "who believe black African states are congenitally incapable of moderate, democratic, civilian rule." The coup also brought disappointment to those who believed that the restoration of Nigerian democracy had been a sign that Africa was coming of age. In 1979, Shehu Shagari said, "In this country there are, in the end, only two parties, the civilians and the soldiers."

Unfortunately he was right. Last week it was clear that the Nigerian "opposition," using the means at its disposal, had come to power again. — William E. Smith

Reported by James Wilde/Lagos