How did one military officer hold power for eight years, preside over the disappearance of $12.4 billion, build Africa's most sophisticated system of political corruption, annul the freest election his country ever held, and retire to a mansion without ever being prosecuted?This is the story of Ibrahim Babangida, the Smiling Dictator Who Stole Nigeria’s DemocracyThis is Episode 8 of Power & Plunder — a 16-part series covering every head of state Nigeria has had since independence. Built on declassified British and American archives, court records, and primary sources.

Between December 1983 and August 1985, Nigeria endured one of the most brutal military governments in Africa. It jailed 100s of politicians, executed drug offenders under retroactive law, attempted to kidnap a former minister from London using Israeli intelligence operatives, imprisoned Fela Kuti, and lost a power struggle that was rigged from day one.This is the story of Dictator Nigeria wants to Forget. This is Episode 7 of Power & Plunder — a 16-part series covering every head of state Nigeria has had since independence. Built on declassified British and American archives, court records, and primary sources.My Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/18zZHAPXMjmATeTniGpKHzpKAmoJiTdV2p_e7DCGymuQ/edit?usp=sharing

Shehu Shagari, a gentle, scholarly Fulani teacher who never truly sought the presidency, presided over a republic that squandered an estimated $16 billion in oil wealth, expelled two million West African migrants, rigged its own re-election so blatantly that citizens cheered when soldiers arrived, and ended with a brigadier shot dead in a predawn firefight at the presidential villa. This is Episode 6 of Power & Plunder — a 16-part series covering every head of state Nigeria has had since independence. Built on declassified British and American archives, court records, and primary sources.My Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ng-sWHPdSHvLKOjFyM5MMtPCDFbB1EbEGk-9BJwHcKs/edit?usp=sharing

He inherited a traumatized state reeling from the assassination of Murtala Mohammed, and handed over to an elected civilian president, becoming the first African military ruler to voluntarily surrender power. But before walking away, what he did with that absolute power was interesting.This is Episode 5 of Power & Plunder — a 16-part series covering every head of state Nigeria has had since independence. Built on declassified British and American archives, court records, and primary sources.My Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TA-eY7ndJ0qzsgBnFpyIjA45OBxii71BLl1ZqpYqD4M/edit?usp=sharing

A 37-year-old Hausa-Fulani military officer from Kano, he came to power in a bloodless coup and was assassinated in a Lagos traffic ambush led by Lt. Col. Buka Suka Dimka exactly 33 days after delivering his famous "Africa Has Come of Age" speech at the OAU, in which he directly confronted the United States over Angola. Declassified US State Department documents reveal that Washington viewed Murtala as "erratic, vainglorious, impetuous, corrupt, vindictive, intelligent, articulate, daring" and that American intelligence-gathering on Nigeria intensified dramatically during his tenure.This is Episode 4 of Power & Plunder — a 16-part series covering every head of state Nigeria has had since independence. Built on declassified British and American archives, court records, and primary sources.My Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VCKhBbuhG0-LFqfizrNL75S0H0PAiicW2GsuLgxdMlI/edit?usp=sharing

Yakubu Gowon inherited a nation soaked in the blood of two coups. He then presided over a civil war that killed up to two million people. His government oversaw an incredible oil boom that turned Nigeria from a groundnut exporter into a petro-state. Yet he watched as the system around him became the most corrupt government Nigeria had ever seen.This is the story of how trust built a presidency — and destroyed it.This is Episode 3 of Power & Plunder — a 16-part series covering every head of state Nigeria has had since independence. Built on declassified British and American archives, court records, and primary sources.My Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L_bgWkzUOq6hQre9wVoEEt7qdYFcRk9D9euVevmaF48/edit?usp=sharing

On January 15, 1966, a group of young Nigerian officers launched a coordinated assassination plot that killed the Prime Minister, the Northern Premier, and nearly every senior political and military figure in the country. The one man they were supposed to kill but missed — Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi — ended up ruling the nation by the next morning.He didn't plan the coup. He didn't want the job. But for the next 194 days, everything he did was used against him.This is Episode 2 of Power & Plunder — a 16-part series covering every head of state Nigeria has had since independence. Built on declassified British and American archives, court records, and primary sources.My Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1whhmgEzvbeRnW42HtWYjJJtItMaMbA35o3ZqwLCHsUk/edit?usp=sharing

In 1914, Britain smashed two completely different territories into one colony — because it was cheaper. They rigged the constitution, found oil, changed the rules, and handed it all to a man who knew the whole thing was broken.His name was Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. The Golden Voice of Africa. He was Nigeria's Unlucky prime minister who was set up to fail.This is Episode 1 of Power & Plunder — a 16-part series covering every head of state Nigeria has had since independence. Built on declassified British and American archives, court records, and primary sources.My Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qTavbF3rpMKse122oEeGXygHtaVqM8J9msvW3ElZbdI/edit?usp=sharing