Junta arrests former Nigerian leader

The Nigerian military junta arrested General Olusegun Obasanjo, the former head of state and the most senior political figure the regime has so far dared to touch.

General Obasanjo, who is well known in Commonwealth circles, was detained at his farm in Otta north of Lagos and taken to the commercial capital for questioning. An aide said the general had been arrested for political reasons.

Last Friday, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abdul Salam Abubakar, told a news conference that 29 military officers and civilians had been arrested in connection with a coup plot against General Sani Abacha's regime. He added that "further arrests" would be made "if the need arises", but details of the plot and its motives were sketchy. The regime had spoken of people stirring up dissent within the armed forces.

General Obasanjo took power in 1976 but restored a democratic system three years later, the only Nigerian head of state to give up power voluntarily. He has been a constant critic of military rule and has called on Nigeria's military dictator, General Abacha, and his predecessor, General Ibrahim Babangida, to restore democracy.

He is also one of three leading Nigerians from Abeokuta in Yorubaland who oppose the domination of Nigeria's politics by northern Muslims. The others are the writer Wole Soyinka, whose passport was confiscated last year, and Moshood Abiola, who is widely accepted as the winner of the 1993 election cancelled by General Babangida. Mr Soyinka is in exile and Mr Abiola is in prison awaiting trial for treason.

The only other name among those arrested is General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, once General Obasanjo's deputy and now a member of the Constitutional Conference set up by General Abacha to guide the country back to civilian rule. General Yar'Adua sponsored a motion calling for the military rulers to hand over power by next year. The conference is months behind schedule and no nearer reconciling the result of the cancelled election with progress towards restoring civilian rule.

At least three other Nigerian officers have fled to Ghana in recent days. The independent Nigerian Tribune reported that all land and sea borders were being closely watched.

The takeover by General Abacha was followed by strikes in Lagos and in the oil industry in eastern Nigeria but economic conditions and political repression broke the strike after several weeks. The failure of popular uprising meant General Abacha was safe unless overthrown by a coup and having played a part in several successful military coups, General Abacha is a master of intrigue.

But he has few friends. An American official recently described Nigeria as a pariah state which was rapidly going to hell. Both the US and the European Union have taken measures against the regime but stopped short of any economic sanctions to help restore democracy.