Nigeria

=== 12 June and the crisis of the Third Republic ===
{{Main|Third Nigerian Republic|1993 Nigerian presidential election}}
Babangida legalized the formation of political parties and formed the two-party system with the [[Social Democratic Party (Nigeria)|Social Democratic Party]] and [[National Republican Convention]] ahead of the [[1992 Nigerian parliamentary election|1992 general elections]]. He urged all Nigerians to join either of the parties, which Chief [[Bola Ige]] referred to as "two leper hands". The [[1993 Nigerian presidential election|1993 presidential election]] held on 12 June was the first since the military coup of 1983. The results, though not officially declared by the National Electoral Commission, showed the duo of [[Moshood Abiola]] and [[Baba Gana Kingibe]] of the Social Democratic Party defeated [[Bashir Tofa]] and [[Sylvester Ugoh]] of the National Republican Convention by over 2.3&nbsp;million votes. However, Babangida annulled the elections, leading to massive civilian protests that effectively shut down the country for weeks. In August 1993, Babangida finally kept his promise to relinquish power to a civilian government but not before appointing [[Ernest Shonekan]] head of an [[Cabinet of Ernest Shonekan|interim national government]].<ref>Bilski, Andrew, "Broken Promises", ''Maclean'', 6 September 1993.</ref> Babangida's regime has been considered the most corrupt and responsible for creating a culture of corruption in Nigeria.<ref>Diamond, Larry; [[Kirk-Greene, Anthony]]; [[Oyeleye Oyediran]] (1997) ''Transition without End: Nigerian Politics and Civil Society Under Babangida'', Vantage Publishers, {{ISBN|978-2458-54-6}}.</ref>
[[File:Abdulsalami Abubakar detail DF-SC-02-04323.jpg|thumb|[[Abdulsalami Abubakar]], military ruler in 1998 saw the return to democracy in 1999|upright]]
Shonekan's interim government, the shortest in the political history of the country, was overthrown in a [[1993 Nigerian coup d'état|coup d'état of 1993]] led by General [[Sani Abacha]], who used military force on a wide scale to suppress the continuing civilian unrest. In 1995, the government hanged environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa on trumped-up charges in the deaths of four [[Ogoni people|Ogoni]] elders, which caused Nigerian's [[Suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations|suspension from the Commonwealth]]. Lawsuits under the American [[Alien Tort Statute]] against [[Royal Dutch Shell]] and Brian Anderson, the head of Shell's Nigerian operation, settled out of court with Shell continuing to deny liability.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wiwa et al v. Royal Dutch Petroleum et al.|url=http://wiwavshell.org/|work=Center for Constitutional Rights}}</ref> Several hundred million dollars in accounts traced to Abacha were discovered in 1999.<ref>''"Nigerian Lawyer: Abacha accounts apparently in Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, and Germany", AP press, 10 January 2000.''</ref> The regime came to an end in 1998 when the dictator died in the villa. He looted money to offshore accounts in western European banks and defeated coup plots by arresting and bribing generals and politicians. His successor, General [[Abdulsalami Abubakar]], adopted a new constitution on 5 May 1999, which provided for multiparty elections.