Democracy Day, on 12 June in Nigeria, might be better named ‘two cheers for democracy’ day. It marks the election in 1993 that was supposed to end a decade of military rule. When it became clear that Moshood Abiola, a millionaire businessman, was about to win, the junta under Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha annulled the vote and tipped the country into turmoil.

Over 100 people were killed in the ensuing protests. Babangida was forced out, handing over to an ‘interim government’ headed by businessman Ernest Shonekan. Within months, Abacha seized power, then ran the most corrupt and repressive junta in Nigeria to date. His sudden demise in 1998, shrouded in mystery, was celebrated in Nigeria as a ‘coup from heaven’. But he was more a symptom than a cause of Nigeria’s recurring political crises.

In February, Babangida published his memoir, which heaped the blame for the 1993 crisis onto Abacha. A top table of generals and veteran politicians crowded into the launch of Babangida’s book. Guest of honour was President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who built his political career on opposition to Abacha, campaigning against his brutality and greed. Now Tinubu has taken on Gilbert Chagoury, a Franco-Lebanese billionaire, as his financial advisor. Chagoury is best known to Nigerians as the man who managed Abacha’s finances and fled the country after his death.