Olusegun Obasanjo (5 March 1937-) was Head of State of Nigeria from 13 February 1976 to 30 September 1979, succeeding Murtala Mohammed and preceding Shehu Shagari, and President of Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007, succeeding Abdulsalami Abubakar and preceding Umaru Yar'Adua.
Biography[]
Olusegun Obasanjo was born on 5 March 1937 to an Anglican Yoruba family, and he joined the Nigerian Army in 1958. During the Nigerian Civil War, Obasanjo commanded the Nigerian 3rd Marine Commando Division and took Owerri in Operation Tail-Wind, bringing an end to the civil war. In 1975, he supported Murtala Mohammed's coup in Nigeria, and he narrowly escaped death after Buka Suka Dimka's failed coup in 1976. From February 1976 to September 1979 he was the Head of State of Nigeria, and in 1979 a new constitution based on the United States constitution ended military rule for four years. He handed power to Shehu Shagari, and in the 1990s he spoke out against Sani Abacha's miitary rule as a human rights activist; in 1999 he was elected President when democracy was restored. He was reelected until his second term expired in 2007, having failed to amend the constitution to allow presidents to have a third term.