Aminu Kano

==== Muhammad's regime (1975—1976) and Obasanjo's regime (1976—1979) ====
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| image2            = Olusegun Obasanjo and Jimmy Carter-03.jpg
| caption1          = General Murtala Muhammad
| caption2          = General Olusegun Obasanjo with US President [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1977
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{{Main articles|Murtala Muhammed|Olusegun Obasanjo}}
After the conclusion of the civil war, he assumed the position of Federal Commissioner of Health in 1971. In 1975, [[1975 Nigerian coup d'état|a coup d'état against Gowon]] was launched while Gowon was representing Nigeria at the 12th [[Organisation of African Unity|summit of the Organisation of African Unity]] in Kampala. Murtala Muhammad was announced as Head of State by the coupists on 30 July 1975.<ref name=":29" />{{Rp|pages=175-183}} Muhammad was assassinated in a failed coup a year later, and he was succeeded by his deputy, [[Olusegun Obasanjo]].<ref name=":29" />{{Rp|page=193}}

Before his death, Muhammad established a Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) tasked with formulating a new constitution in preparation for the transition to civilian rule. In August 1976, Obasanjo announced the formation of a [[Constituent assembly|Constituent Assembly]] which was to deliberate upon the draft constitution the CDC had prepared. Elections for the Constituent Assembly were conducted, and candidates were chosen by the newly constituted [[Federal Electoral Commission]] (FEDECO). Aminu was nominated and successfully elected.<ref name=":31" /> The Assembly held sessions between October 1977 and June 1978. The Assembly's draft constitution was submitted to the Supreme Military Council in August. Following the SMC's approval of 17 amendments to the draft, the new constitution was announced in September 1978.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Koehn |first=Peter |date=1989 |title=Competitive Transition to Civilian Rule: Nigeria's First and Second Experiments |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/161100 |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=401–430 |issn=0022-278X}}</ref> The "ban on politics" was also lifted on the same day and Nigerians were encouraged to form political parties in preparation of an election the following year.<ref name=":32">{{Cite book |last=Oyediran |first=Oyeleye |author-link=Oyeleye Oyediran |url=http://archive.org/details/nigerian1979elec00oyed |title=The Nigerian 1979 elections |date=1981 |publisher=Illupeju, Lagos [Nigeria] : Macmillan Nigeria |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-333-31786-0}}</ref>{{Rp|page=16}}