Desperate For Democracy

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Only in a country that has been as thoroughly brutalized by its rapacious leaders as Nigeria could a shady character like Moshood Abiola be transmuted into a symbol of frustrated democracy. By the time of his mysterious death in the new capital city of Abuja last week, he had been elevated into something he never was, the figurehead of the political freedom Nigeria never had. No matter that for years Abiola was thick as thieves with the military strongmen who were stealing millions from their country; no matter that he pocketed money from sweetheart deals he had cut with the greedy generals. Nigerians were desperate for a hero to worship, and Abiola, who would have been 61 next month, fit the bill.

For many Nigerians--especially those in the Yoruba-dominated southwest, where Abiola hailed from--memories go back only five years, to Nigeria's last ill-fated attempt to elect a civilian regime. Abiola appeared to win that election, even if he did it by dumping money on the electorate. But Nigeria's military bosses refused to accept the result and annulled the election. A year later, after Abiola proclaimed himself President anyway, a new strongman, General Sani Abacha, charged him with treason and clapped him in prison. After four years of mostly solitary confinement, Abiola's spirit appeared to be broken. He was so eager to be released that he seemed to renounce his claim to the presidency in a conversation only two weeks ago with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

On the face of it, those are not promising materials for creating a Nigerian version of Nelson Mandela. But in a country where everything but misery is in short supply, people have learned to make do with whatever is at hand. Daily life in Nigeria deteriorated disastrously under Abacha's dictatorship as the economy and infrastructure crumbled. Unemployment and corruption inflamed ethnic animosity. The facts about Abiola became far less important to people than the image they could build around him of a democratic future they yearned to have.

The mythmaking will be easier because of the bizarre circumstances of Abiola's demise. Still a prisoner, he had just sat down with a top-level U.S. delegation visiting Nigeria to push for democratic reforms when he had trouble breathing and collapsed. Ninety minutes later, he died in a military hospital. The mystery of his death touched off riots in Lagos and other southwestern cities that left at least 55 dead as his fellow Yorubas took revenge on Hausa northerners, the ethnic group that dominates the military regime. Angry youths set fires and barricaded the streets of Lagos, battling police and soldiers. Though the doctors attending him said Abiola appeared to have died from a heart attack, some of his relatives immediately charged that he had been poisoned or had died because his illnesses had gone untreated while he was in detention. A Lagos newspaper suggested absurdly that the American diplomats meeting Abiola had slipped something into his tea. In what is sure to be a vain attempt to quell the inflammatory rumors, the latest military boss, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, 56, called in a team of British, American and Canadian pathologists to perform an autopsy.