A narration of the events in Nigeria after General Abacha took power in 1993. Written to draw lessons from the political disasters which led to the coup, the author looks at the policies of terror put in place over the five years of the regime. Index, apps, xvi, 218pp, NIGERIA, 3783001410

Sequel to the critique of the Nigerian military Open Sore of a Continent, posing the question: once repression stops, is reconciliation between oppressor and victim possible? In the face of centuries long devastations wrought on the African continent and diaspora by slavery, colonialism, apartheid and racism, what form of recompense could possibly be adequate? In confronting these questions Soyinka challenges notions of simple forgiveness, of confession and absolution, as strategies for social healing and turns instead to art poetry, music, painting, as one source that may nourish the seed of reconciliation. Index, ix, 208pp, UK. OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 0195134281

Offers a comprehensive and insightful account of the problems besetting this leading African country. Index, bib, app, tables, 227pp, GERMANY. LIT

VERLAG.

Chronicles the role played by the military since the coup in January 1966, as seen through the eyes of a former general. B/w ill, index, ix, 396pp, NIGERIA. MALTHOUSE, 9780231277

2002 Paperback

A chronicle of Nigeria's violent Second Republic and the bitter struggle for power among the followers of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Index, refs, app, xx, 315pp, NIGERIA. SPECTRUM BOOKS LTD, 978029385X

Written by a journalist who spent the between 1993 and 2000 working at Aso Rock, Nigeria's seat of power, this is an account of the politics and power-play of the Presidential villa which is rarely documented. Illustrated with colour photographs. Index, 224pp, NIGERIA. SPECTRUM BOOKS LTD, 978029418X

Explores the circumstances of military incursion into Nigerian politics and examines the civil war and how it enhanced the military's control of political power. Analyses the strategies which the military rulers consciously employed to monopolise political power in Nigeria between 1966 and 1993. Argues that the deliberate corrective regime posturing, the politics of patronage and subordination, the employment of coercive and repressive methods, militarization and guided transition programmes were used (with varying degrees of success) by different military regimes to prolong their hold on political power. Index, bib, 186pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

New edition includes an edited version of 'A Detention Diary', Saro-Wiwa's own record of his arrest in July 1993, and the story of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and the struggle against the multinational Shell and the Nigerian military dictatorship. Saro-Wiwa's criticisms and questioning of a corrupt regime eventually led to his execution with eight others on 10 November 1995. Foreword by Wole Soyinka. It also includes a letter by Ken Wiwa to his late father 10 years on, and previously unpublished letters smuggled to and from Ken during his final imprisonment. Among these are letters from world leaders, writers and friends including Nelson Mandela, Nadine Gordimer, Ethel Kennedy, Anita Roddick and ordinary people from all over the world. 221pp, UK. AYEBIA.

Contributors outline strategies for taming the military to avoid future coups, attaining national unity to solve ethnic conflicts, confront religious intolerance, demarginalising women in politics and society and ameliorating human rights violations by the state. Index, 276pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

A study aiming to make available the analytical tools and necessary criteria to enable reliable judgements about the state of the country's security and to identify the weaknesses. BNS, 188pp, NIGERIA. HEINEMANN EDUCATIONAL BOOKS NIGERIA.

A look at the Nigerian military and modern defence policies of the country. index, bib, notes, 351pp, NIGERIA. MALTHOUSE, 9782601462

1990 DELAY Paperback

A personal view of Nigeria's history and future by the exiled playwright. Soyinka introduces the main players and events the corrupt Babangida regime, the civil war, the lame duck Sonekan regime and the Abacha coup and illuminates the broader questions of nationhood, identity, and the general state of African culture and politics at the end of the twentieth century. Apps, index, vi, 170pp, USA. OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 0195119215

Analyzes the activities of the various groups within the Nigerian pro-democracy movement from 1989 to 1999, with a view to facilitating a general understanding of the political dynamic in Nigeria during the turbulent ten-year period. Notes, bib, index, xiv, 205pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

Investigates the relationship between Nigerian military governments and the Nigerian press in the context of press freedom over a period of twenty-three years. The largely historical legal study focuses on four objectives to wit: to examine the laws (decrees and edicts) which defined the limits of press freedom during military rule in Nigeria; to draw together in one document the pertinent Nigerian case law in the area of press freedom during military rule; to identify and analyse the institutional, legal and non-legal measures and mechanisms utilized by Nigerian military regimes in controlling the press; and to identify and analyse the socio-political factors that influenced or affected press freedom during military rule in Nigeria. 189pp, USA. EDWIN MELLEN PRESS.

An account of a journalist as a participant observer in the political manoeuvre that united the East, West, Middle Belt and North, in the struggle that ended military rule and changed the course of Nigeria's political development. Index, app, xiii, 181pp, NIGERIA. SPECTRUM BOOKS LTD, 9780294333

Looks at how public policy and economic development were affected under the period of military control between 1966 and 1999, and the nature and scale of change that Nigeria will have to undergo in order to achieve its current development goals. BNS, c.410pp, UK. ASHGATE PUBLISHERS, 0754618773

Research Report No.126. A study documenting a crucial dimension of the resistance of Nigerian civil society to a repressive and monumentally corrupt military state in the late 1980s and the 1990s in Nigeria. Employing a neo Gramscian theoretical framework, the author relates how a section of the media defied censorship laws, outright bans, incarceration and the assassination of opposition figures, to prosecute the struggle for democracy. Notes, 136pp, SWEDEN. NORDIC AFRICA INSTITUTE, 9171065245