PEOPLE THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY IN MY COUNTRY

I would like to start by saying that most of the things happening to us (positively or
negatively) are as a direct or indirect result of what has happened in the past. But it
depends on individual to allow 'what has happened' to affect them or they change it,
according to one of my favorite quotes that says "if you don't like something, change it".

This same illustration applies to my country Nigeria whereby some people have changed
the course of history. Since history is made by people with much of it consisting of the
working existing and often inevitable human trends. But some of these histories have
taken a sharp turn away from its ordained path in response to some individuals' will. That
is why sometimes, in my country, you can go back to a particular moment in history and
say that if it hadn't been for one person, things would have been very different. Well, this
is the brief story of three of those people on how and why they changed the course of
history in Nigeria.

MAJOR KADUNA CHUKWUMA NZEOGWU ( 19371967) led the country's first coup d'etat
that changed Nigeria.

January the 15th, 1966 is no ordinary date in Nigeria's history. On this fateful day, Nigeria
socio-political and economic landscape was changed for good. It was the day a group of
mutinous officers in the Nigerian Army, led by Major Kaduna Chukwuma Nzeogwu, staged
the country's first coup d'etat, leading to the assassination of key Nigerian leaders, senior
officers in the army, and the abduction of three others. It was the day whose events set off
the collapse of the First Republic, resulted in a counter-coup six months later, led to the
Nigerian Civil War, and ushered in 30 years of military interventions in Nigerian politics
from which the country is yet to fully recover.

Since the events of January 15, 1966, Nigeria has never been the same. It lost its innocence
and the lofty ideals, which the founding fathers of the republic who fought for Nigeria's
independence from the British colonial administration, were all abandoned. Today, Nigeria
continues to totter from the effects of that coup. Corruption - one of the reasons given by
the coup plotters for overthrowing the civilian government - is at its worst. Its
development remains stunted and the ethnic and religious divide deeper than ever.

ABDULSALAM ABUBAKAR born 1947, transferred power to president-elect Olusegun

Obasanjo on May 29, 1999. He was military President of Nigeria from 9 June 1998 until 29
May 1999. He succeeded Sani Abacha upon Abacha's death. It was during Abubakar's
leadership that Nigeria adopted its new constitution on 5 May 1999, which provided for
multiparty elections. Abubakar transferred power to president-elect Olusegun Obasanjo in
1999.

Nigeria had been ruled by military leaders since Muhammadu Buhari seized power from
Shehu Shagari in a1983 coup. Although democratic elections had been held in 1993, they
were annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida. Abubakar was sworn in as president on 9
June 1998 after the unexpected death of Abacha. He declared a weeklong period of
national mourning. A few days after assuming office, Abubakar promised to hold elections
within a year and transfer power to an elected president. He established the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), appointing former Supreme Court Justice Ephraim
Akpata as chairman. The INEC held a series of elections first for Local Government Areas in
December 1998, then for State Assemblies and Governors, National Assemblies and finally
for the President on 27 February 1999. Although efforts were made to ensure that the
elections were free and fair, there were widespread irregularities that drew criticism from
foreign observers.

Nigeria adopted a new constitution May 5, 1999, which went into effect when Olusegun
Obasanjo president.

GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN (born 20November 1957) is a formerPresident of Nigeria,

having served from 2010 to 2015. He served as Vice-President of Nigeria from 2007 to
2010. He contested and lost the 2015 presidential election, upon which he conceded
defeat and became the first sitting Nigerian president to do so. Jonathan's term as
President of Nigeria ended on 29 May 2015, with Muhammadu Buhari becoming the new
president.

On 31 March 2015, Jonathan conceded the election to challenger Muhammadu Buhari ,

who was sworn in to succeed him on 29 May 2015. Jonathan said in a statement he issued
on 31 March 2015 that "Nobodys ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian. President-
elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has said President Goodluck Jonathan changed Nigerias
course of political history with that singular call to him to concede defeat, saying if the
President had attempted to make things difficult it would have been at the expense of
innocent lives. Jonathan even when he had the powers to do otherwise, towed the line of
honour and saved innocents lives by that singular call to concede defeat.

Jonathan has changed the course of Nigerias political history. For that He has earned
himself a place in our history, for stabilising this system of multi party democracy and He
has earned the respect of not only Nigerians but world leaders.