Nigeria held parliamentary elections for the first time since 1964, electing members of the Senate and House of Representatives as part of the planned return from military to civilian government.
In the first presidential election since the 1960s, Shehu Shagari (National Party of Nigeria, NPN) won the vote that would inaugurate the Second Republic’s U.S.-style presidential system.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria decided the election petition challenging Shagari’s victory (Awolowo v. Shagari), settling a key constitutional dispute over the required geographic distribution of votes.
Nigeria’s Second Republic formally began when Olusegun Obasanjo transferred power to President Shehu Shagari and the new constitutional order took effect, marking the end of the 1975–1979 military administration.
Major violence linked to the Maitatsine movement broke out in Kano, prompting large-scale security operations and highlighting rising religious and social tensions during the early Second Republic.
Interior Minister Ali Baba announced that undocumented foreign workers must leave Nigeria within two weeks, triggering a large regional exodus that became widely remembered as “Ghana Must Go.”
Four weeks after the expulsion order, the Interior Minister publicly reported the scale of departures, underscoring the policy’s major humanitarian and diplomatic impact across West Africa.
A brief interstate war over control of Lake Chad islands began after Chadian forces entered Nigeria’s Borno State; Nigerian forces expelled them, intensifying civil–military strains in 1983.
Nigeria held presidential elections returning Shagari to office; the vote was widely contested and later cited as a major factor in delegitimizing the civilian government.
Senate elections were held as part of the 1983 general elections; the ruling NPN won a larger share of seats, consolidating formal control of federal institutions despite contested processes.
Elections for the House of Representatives завершили the 1983 parliamentary cycle, completing a controversial electoral season that intensified political polarization and legal challenges.
A military coup ousted President Shagari and installed Major General Muhammadu Buhari as head of state, terminating the Second Republic and returning Nigeria to military rule.
Second Republic (1979–1983)
