Conventional form:  Republic of Ghana
     Former:             Gold Coast
     Digraph:            GH
     Capital:            Accra
     Independence:       6 March 1957 (from UK)
     Type:               Constitutional Democracy
     Executive:          President, cabinet
     Legislative:        Unicameral National Assembly
     Judicial branch:    Supreme Court
Constitution

No. 1 - 1956; suspended 24 February 1966
No. 2 - 1969; suspended 13 January 1972
No. 3 - 1979; suspended 31 December 1981
No. 4 - approved 28 April 1992 (operational)

based on English common law and customary law;
has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

March 6: Independence Day
July 1: Republic Day
..More

Presidential: held December 2004
Parliamentry: held December 2004
Suffrage: Universal at 18
Next: 2008

Political History

Political highlights
1957 - independence, Nkrumah of CPP is PM, 2 key parties
1960 - declared republic, one party system, presidential system
1966 - military overthrow of 1st republic
1969 - 2nd republic, Busia of PP is PM, 2 key parties
1972 - military overthrow of 2nd republic
1978 - palace coup to restructure military government
1979 - junior officer uprising and military housecleaning
1979 - ushered third republic, Limann of PNP is President, 3 parties
1981 - overthrow of the constitutional PNP gov't by the PNDC military junta
1983 - Attempted overthrow of the PNDC junta by other junior army men 1992 - Rawlings of NDC is Dem elected as President, 2 parties **
1996 - Rawlings of NDC is re-elected, 2 parties
2001 - Kuffour (NPP) is President

2005 - Kufuor begins second-term in office

Summary: multiparty system 16 years
military system 21 years
oneparty system 6 years

** fraud allegations led to an electoral boycott resulting in an effective one party system. Also, marks the first time when the head of a military regime had contested in an election.

Ghana lies at the heart of a region which has been leading sub-Saharan African culture since the first millenium BC in metal-working mining, sculpture and agriculture.

Modern Ghana takes its name from the ancient kingdom of Ghana, some 800 km. (500 miles) to the north of present-day Accra, which flourished up to the eleventh century AD. One of the great sudanic states which dominate African history, the kingdom of Ghana controlled the gold trade between the min- ing areas to the south and the Saharan trade routes to the north. Ancient Ghana was also the focus for the export trade in Saharan copper and salt.

The coming of Europeans altered the trading patterns, and the focus of economic power shifted to the West African coast- line. The Portuguese came first, seeking the source of the African gold. It lay too far inland for them to reach; but on the Gold Coast they found a region where gold could be obtained, exported along established trade paths from the interior. Their fort at Elmina ("the mine") was the first in a series of forts along the Gold Coast designed to repel the other European seafarers who followed in their wake, all struggling for their share of the profitable Gold Coast trade.

In due course, however, slaves replaced gold as the most lucrative trade along the coast, with the European slave buy- ers using the forts and adjoining buildings for their own accommodation and protection, as well as for storing the goods, mainly guns and gunpowder, which they would barter for slaves. Some of the forts were also used for keeping newly acquired slaves pending the arrival of the ships sent to collect them.

The history of the various forts, given later in this guide, graphically expresses how the various European trading nations fought for our gold, ivory and later, slaves.

But while Europeans quarrelled over access to the coastal trade, and despite the appalling depredations of the slave traders, which left whole regions destroyed and depopulated, the shape of modern Ghana was being laid down. At the end of the 17th century, there were a number of small states on the Gold Coast; by 1750, these had merged, by conquest or diplomacy, into two: the Asante empire, and the Fantes. By the 19th century, the Asantes were seeking mastery of the coast, and especially access to the trading post of Elmina. By this time the British had won control of the coastal trade from the other European nations, and their interests could not tolerate further Asante expansion - more so since the Asante Empire was known for its sophisticated admin- istrative efficiency and would have been difficult or im- possible to best at trade. Nevertheless it took a series of military campaigns over some 50 years before the British were finally able to force the Asantes to give up sovereignty over their southern possessions. In a final campaign in 1874 the British attempted, without success, to seize Asante; they were however able to take Kumasi and exact a huge ransom for it in gold; and the vast Asante empire shrunk to the Asante and Brong-Ahafo regions of modern Ghana.

Meanwhile, the Fantes too had been uniting and organiz- ing, and in 1868 formed themselves into a confederacy under a king-president with a 15,000 strong army, a civil service and a constitution. In 1871 the British arrested the Fante leaders for "treason". They were however freed a month later, but the con- federacy never recovered from the blow. In 1874 the British for- mally established the British Crown Colony of the Gold Coast, "legalizing" a colonial policy which had in fact been in force since the signing of the bond between the coastal Chiefs and the British in 1844, despite the fact that the Chiefs never ceded sovereignty to the British under the bond, though some of them allowed British intervention in judicial matters.

The Asante and Fante traditions of education and organ- ization, and their urge for autonomy, remained throughout the years of British colonial rule. The Gold Coast was regarded as the showpiece of Britain's colonies: the richest, the best educat- ed, the first to have an elected majority in the legislature and with the best organized native authorities. The Gold Coast riots in 1948, which marked the start of the people's agitation for independence, were instrumental in changing British policy and drove home the point that colonialism had no future.

But a long struggle still lay ahead - and the man who was the catalyst of that struggle was Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

Born in 1909, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah trained as a teacher at Achimota College in Ghana and then in the United States and Britain, where he obtained his degrees.

He became prominent as a leader of West African organiza- tions in London and was invited to return to Ghana as general secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention. In 1949 he broke away to from the Convention People's Party with the slo- gan Self-Government Now.

In February 1951 the party swept to victory in the polls and became the leaders of Govermnent business in the colony's first African government. The Gold Coast had become the first British colony in Africa to achieve self-government.

On 6 March 1957 Ghana achieved independence - again, the first British colony in Africa to do so - with Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as its first Prime Minister. On 1st July,1960 it became a republic with Kwame Nkrumah as its first President.

Ghana spearheaded the political advancement of Africa and Dr. Nkrumah laid the foundations for the unity later expressed in the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). He was a firm supporter of the Commonwealth and the Non-Aligned movement.

On 24th February 1966, the government of Dr. Nkrumah was overthrown by the Ghana armed forces and the police. A National Liberation Council (NLC), headed by Lt. General Joseph Arthur Ankrah, was formed to administer the country.

General Ankrah was removed from office in April 1969 and Lt. General Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa became the Chairman of the NLC, which later gave way to a three-man Presidential Commission with General Afrifa as chairman. The Commission paved the way for a general election in 1969 which brought into power the Progress Party government, with Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia as Prime Minister and Mr. Edward Akufo Addo as president.

The Ghana armed forces again took over the reins of gov- ernment on 13th January 1972, and Colonel (later General) Ignatius Kutu Acheampong became the Head of State and Chairman of the National Redemption Council (NRC). The name of the NRC was later changed to the Supreme Military Council (SMC). General Acheampong was replaced by General F.W.K. Akuffo in a palace coup in July 1978.

The SMC was overthrown on 4th June 1979, in a mass revolt of junior officers and men of the Ghana armed forces. Following the uprising, an Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) was set up under the chairmanship of Flt.-Lt. Jerry John Rawlings. The AFRC carried out a house-cleaning exercise in the armed forces and society at large, while restoring a sense of moral responsibility and the principle of accountability and pro- bity in public life. The AFRC was in office for only three months and, in pursuance of a programme already set in motion before the uprising, allowed general elections to be held. On 24th September 1979, the AFRC handed over power to the civilian administration of Dr. Hilla Limann, leader of the People's National Party which had won the elections.

In the wake of the continuing downward plunge of the coun- try, the Limann administration was overthrown on 31st December 1981, ushering in a new revolutionary era of far-reach ing reforms and rehabilitation at all levels. Flt.-Lt. Rawlings became the Chairman of a nine-member Provisional National Defence Ruling Council, (PNDC) with Secretaries of State in charge of the various ministries being responsible to the PNDC .

Immediately on assumption of office, the PNDC set up a National Commission for Democracy (NCD) charged with for- mulating a programme for the more effective realisation of true democracy. The Govemment of the PNDC also provided for the establishment of elected District Assemblies to bring local government to the grassroots.

In 1990, the NCD, at the prompting of the PNDC, organised forums in all the 10 regions of the country at which Ghanaians of all walks of life advanced their views as to what form of gov- ernment they wanted. These views were collated and analysed by the NCD whose final report indicated that the people want- ed a multi-party system of government.

This led to the appointment of a Committee of Experts to draw up constitutional proposals for the consideration of a Consultative Assembly. The Assembly prepared a draft consti- tution based on proposals submitted to it by the PNDC, as well as previous constitutions of 1957,1969 and 1979, and the report of the Committee of Experts. The final draft constitution was unanimously approved by the people in a referendum on April 28,1992.

Among other things, the Constitution provides for an Executive President elected by universal adult suffrage for a term of four years and eligible for re-election for only one addi- tional term. In the presidential elections held on November 3, 1992, Flt.-Lt- Rawlings who stood on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), garnered 58.8% of the 3,989,020 votes cast to beat to second place his closest rival Prof. Albert Adu Boahen representing the New Patriotic Party who polled 30.4% of the votes. Other contestants for the presidency were former president Dr. Hilla limann of the People's National Convention (6.7%), Mr. Kwabena Darko of the National Independence Party (2.8%) and Lt-Gen. Emmanuel Erskine representing the People's Heritage Party (1.7%).

In the parliamentary elections held on December 29,1992, the Progressive Alliance made up of the National Democratic Congress, the National Convention Party and the Egle Party won 198 seats out of a total of 200, within the Alliance the NDC won 189 seats, the NCP had 8, the Egle Party 2, and Independents 2. Four parties - the NPP, PNC, NIP and PHP - boycotted the parliamentary elections, disatisfied with the pro posed election strategy.

The Fourth Republic was inaugurated on January 7,1993 with the swearing-in of Flt. Lt. Rawlings as President and his running mate, Mr.K.N. Arkaah as Vice President. The newly elected Parliament was opened on the same day and elected, Mr. Justice D.F. Annan as Speaker.

1996: Rawlings was re-elected for a second term

In the December 7, 2000 elections, John A. Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), won the largest share of the presidential vote with 48.17% of the vote, compared to 44.54.% for Rawlings vice-president and hand-picked successor, John Atta Mills of the NDC. The NPP also won 100 of the 200 seats in Parliament. The NDC won 92 seats, while independent and small party candidates won eight seats. In the December 28 run-off election, with pledges of support form the other five opposition parties, Kufuor defeated Mills by winning 56.73% of the vote and the NPP picked up one additional MP by winning a by-election, giving them 100 seats and a majority in Parliament. Both rounds of the election were observed, and declared free and fair by a large contingent of domestic and international monitors. President Kufuor took the oath of office on January 7, 2001, becoming the first elected president in Ghanas history to succeed another elected president. He was re-elected in December 2004 for a second four-year term, becoming the first civilian president (without a military background) to fully serve his tenure and go ahead to be re-elected.

Political outlook

Political instability and the intervention of the military is unlikely, particularly given Kufuor's ability to turn the Ghanaian economy around since he came to power. Despite his outbursts, Rawlings' career as a serial coup maker appears to be over. Nevertheless, following his inauguration in January 2001, President Kufuor appeared to backtrack on many popular policies which brought him electoral success. Apparently more interested in appeasing Western donors and international financial institutions than bolstering his own popularity, Kufuor pledged a period of austerity measures. He claims he is fully aware of the dangers this could pose to Ghana's political stability. In his swearing-in ceremony he warned that the ailing economy would 'put severe strains on our people's beliefs and enthusiasm for the democratic process' unless donors step up their assistance.

Culled from the booklet "GHANA - a brief guide" a publication of the Ghana Information Services Department 1994.
Ghanaweb added more info

1980: The National Party of Nigeria(NPN) forms an accord with the Nigeria People's Party(NPP)to get a majority in parliament.

1981: The end of the oil price boom led to a general strike and the expulsion of more than one million foreign (non-Nigerian) African workers.

1981: The end of the oil price boom led to a general strike and the expulsion of more than one million foreign (non-Nigerian) African workers.

1982: Governors of the opposition parties, NPP, UPN, GNPP and PRP form the Progressive Alliance to checkmate the ruling party, NPN, especially after the crash of NPN/NPP accord at the national level.

1983: Elections are marred by widespread cheating.

1983(September): In Nigeria's second national elections, Shehu Shagari was re-elected president of Nigeria in August-September 1983.

1983(December 31): Major-General Muhammed Buhari led another military coup and overthrew the government of Shehu Shagari. Buhari suspended the 1979 constitution and arrested Shagari and other civilian politicians.

1983-1985: Buhari's "War Against Indiscipline (WAI)" uncovered corruption in the ranks of government and society.

1985 (August 27): General Ibrahim Babangida takes over power in a bloodless coup.

1986: General Babangida promises to restore civilian rule in 1990.

1987: Babangida postpones the date of return to civilian rule from October 1990 to October 1992.

1988: The government reduced fuel price subsidies as part of its austerity program. In response, transporters raised their prices 50-100% and the rest of the population, especially students, went on strike. Fuel prices were lowered again, making Nigeria a source of smuggled fuel to neighboring countries.

1988: The government increased the number of states in Nigeria to 21 (from 19). Later on, a further increase brought the number to 30.

1989(October): Babangida's government refused to legalize 13 independent political parties. Instead, the government founded the SDP (Center-left) and the NRC (Center- right) as the only legal political parties.

1970-1979: Military rulers like Gowon (1967-1975), Murtala Muhamed and Olusegun Obasanjo ran Nigeria and altered the constitution again, creating 19 federal states.

1970 (January 15): The Biafran War came to an end, leaving nearly two million people dead.

1971 (April 2): Nigeria changed from driving on the right hand side of the road to the left.

1973 (May): Government establishes the National Youth Service Corps Scheme and introduces compulsory one year service for all graduates of Nigerian universities.

1974: General Gowon reneged on a promise to restore civilian rule in 1976.

1974: Gowon announces indefinite delay in trasition plan.

1975 (October): Gowon was overthrown in a coup, on the anniversary of his ninth year in office, by General Murtala Mohammed. Murtala rolls out transition plan to civil rule due to terminate in 1979.

1976 (February 13): Murtala Mohammed was gunned down, in an abortive coup attempt, on his way to work from his residence.

1976 (February 14): General Murtala Mohammed was succeeded by General Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo pledges to keep to Murtala's transition agenda.

1976 (September 2): The Universal Primary Education Scheme (UPE) is introduced. This was to make education free and compulsory in the country.

1978: Ban on political parties was lifted

1979 (October 1): General Obasanjo handed over to Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shagari (Excutive President of Nigeria). Five parties competed for the presidency, and Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) won.

1979 (October 1) -1983 (December 31): Second Republic of Nigeria under Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

1960 (October 1): Independence. Nnamdi Azikiwe ("Zik") becomes 1st indigenous Governor General.

1960-1966: First Republic of Nigeria under a British parliamentary system.

1960: Nigeria's joins with Liberia and Togo in the "Monrovia Group" which advocated an extremely loose organization of African states.

1961 (February 11 and 12): People of Northern and Southern Cameroon went to the polls to decide on joining independent Nigeria or the French territory of Cameroon. The south voted to leave Nigeria and the North decided to join Nigeria.

1961 (June 1): Northern Cameroon becomes Sarduana Province of Nigeria, the thirteenth province of Northern Nigeria.

1961 (October 1): Southern Cameroon ceases to be a part of Nigeria

1962: By this time, the northern Northern People's Congress (NPC) controlled the federal government, while violence in the western region forced the dominant party there, the Yoruba "Action Group" (AG), to split in two.

1963: Nigeria proclaimed Republic. Nnamdi Azikiwe becomes its first President.

1964: The Northern Peoples Congress(NPC) aligns with a breakaway faction of the Action Group (AG) led by Chief Ladoke Akintola, the Nigerian National Democratic Party(NNDP),to form the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA) to contest elections. At the same time, the main Action Group led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo forms alliance with the United Middle-Belt Congress(UMBC)and Alhaji Aminu Kano's Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) and Borno Youth Movement to form the UPGA (United Progressive Grand Alliance).

1965 (November): Elections triggered violence in the western region, where Igbo civil servants of the Hausa- dominated federal government represented authority to the Yoruba population. .

1966 (January 15): The Nigerian army staged its first coup.

1966 (May 29): Massive rioting starts in the major towns of Northern Nigeria against the Igbo minority in the north and nearly 30,000 died.

1966 (July 29): A group of Northern officers and men storm the Government house Ibadan where General Aguiyi Ironsi was staying with his host, Lt. Col Adekunle Fajuyi. The men are arested and killed.

1966 (August 1): Lt. Col Yakubu Gowon announces a take-over of the government to the nation

1967 (January 4): Nigeria's military leaders travel to Aburi near Acrra, Ghana to find a solution problems facing the country.

1967 (May 30): Eastern leadership announces Republic of Biafra

1967 (July 6): First shots are fired that formally start of about thirty months of the Biafran war.

1851 (December 26-27): Royal Navy warship bombards Lagos. Oba of Lagos (Oba Kosoko) flees to Epe, wounded.
On board the ship was Lt. Labulo Davies, probably the first Nigerian to be commisioned in a naval force.

1862 (January 1): Lagos Island annexed as a colony of Britain

1862 (January 22): Mr H.S Freeman appointed (first) Governor of Lagos Colony.

1877: George Taubman Goldie arrived in the Niger Delta in 1877

1885: Oil Rivers Protectorate proclaimed by the British after they had defeated of King Jaja of Opobo, the Oba of Benin and subdued all prominent oil merchants of the Niger Delta.

1892 (19 May): At the Battle of the (sacred) Yemoja River the British wreaks havoc amongst the Ijebu infantry with a British Maxim (capable of firing 2000 rounds in three minutes).

1893: Oil Rivers Protectorate renamed Niger Coast Protectorate with its capital at Calabar.

1890's: British Journalist Flora Shaw, later wife of Lord Frederick Lugard, suggests the name "Nigeria" after the great Niger River.

1897: The British overthrow Oba Ovonramwen of Benin. One of the last independent West African kings.

1900: Niger Coast Protectorate was merged with the colony and protectorate of Lagos and renamed Protectorate of Southern Nigeria

1914: Formation of Nigeria under Governor Frederick Lugard

1929 (October): (Aba Women's Riot). Women in Aba demonstrate against high taxes and low prices of Nigerian exports.

1954: The position of Governor was created in each region after the Federal System of Government was adopted.

1958: Nigerian Armed Forces came under Federal control. The Nigerian Navy was created.

1959: The new Nigerian currency was introduced

1959: Northern Peoples Congress(NPC)and Niger Delta Congress(NDC)go into alliance to contest parliamentary elections. The alliance earned the Brass Division a seat in the Federal Parliament for the first time.

1960(July): Sir Adesoji Aderemi becomes 1st Nigerian and 1st African to be appointed Governor in the Commonwealth. He became Goernor before Nigeria got independence.

1960 (October 1): Independence. Nnamdi Azikiwe ("Zik") becomes 1st indigenous Governor General. At independence, the Nigerian government consisted of three ethnic states united in a federation. Each state was controlled by a single dominant ethnic-based party.

1991(September): Administrative reform produced 9 new states and 140 additional local government areas. The date for transition to civilian rule was pushed back again, to January 2, 1993.

1991: The government reversed itself and allowed "old breed" politicians to take part in presidential politics.

1991(December): Elections for state governors were dominated by new breed politicians, but the presidential campaigns featured new and old breed politicians.

1992: Babangida shifs handover date again to 1993.

1992: Census figures show that Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, with 88.5 million people (Egypt is second with 52 million). Nigeria's GDP is second in Africa ($35 million to South Africa's $90 million), but per capita income is only $395.

1992(August/September): Presidential primaries marked by corruption, boycotts, violence, and illegality.

1992(October/November): Babangida cancelled the presidential primaries, banned leaders of both parties, and pushed the date of the presidential election back to mid 1993.

1993(March): New primaries yield Abiola and Tofa as presidential candidates. Primaries were marked by corruption.

1993 (June 12): Presidential elections are held and businessman Moshood Abiola of the SDP takes unexpected lead in early returns.

1993 (June 23): Babangida came on air to give reasons for annulling the results of the Presidential election. At least 100 people killed in riots in the southwest, Abiola's home area.

1993(August): Scheduled second round of presidential elections were not held.

1993 (August 26): Babangida keeps his promise to step down by naming an interim government of his own choice, headed by Ernest A. Shonekan.

1993 (October): The youthful group Movement for the Advancement of Democracy hijacked a Nigerian airliner to Niger in order to protest official corruption.

1993 (November 17): General Sani Abacha, defence minister in the interim government and most senior officer, seizes power abolishes the constitution and promises a short tenure.

1993 (November): The senate impeached their president, SDP member Iyorchia Ayu, a strong opponent of the interim government.

1993 (December): Abacha decided to keep the state governorships in military hands, in order to use them as patronage.

1994: Abiola proclaims himself president, is arrested and charged with treason. Army suppressed riots and strikes.

1994 (May): Abacha organizes the election of a Constitutional Conference.

1994 (October): The Nigerian government established the "Petroleum Trust fund" to disburse profits from the oil industry for public works and social intervention.

1995 (27 June): To celebrate the completion of a Draft Constitution by the Constitutional Conference, General Abacha re-allows political parties and political activity whithout "ruthless or provocative expressions". He does not, however, announce relief for political prisoners nor a deadline for elections

1995 (July): Former President Obasanjo is sentenced to 25 years in prison by a secret military tribunal for alleged participation in an attempt to overthrow the government.

1995 (September): Abacha gives way to international pressure by reprieving alleged coup plotters who have been sentenced to death.

1995 (1 October): Independence day; set date for the Provisional Ruling Council's proofreading of the Draft Constitution.

1995: Writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight members of his Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People are hanged for murder. Commonwealth suspends Nigeria. Arms and visa restrictions are imposed by the United States, European Union and South Africa impose . Abacha announces plan to restore civilian rule on October 1, 1998.

1996 (May): Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria's first president, died.

1996 (June): Kudirat Abiola, wife of Moshood Abiola, was shot by unknown gunmen.

1997 (January): Price of petrol is raised by 338 percent by the the Nigerian government, to reduce inflation and combat corruption. The governemt also introduces a five percent value-added tax (VAT), and devalued the currency by 386 percent.

1997 (December): Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, a former vice-president and political opponent of Abacha, died in prison, leading to charges that he was poisoned.

1998 (April): All five legal political parties adopt General Sani Abacha as their candidate for August 1 presidential elections.

1998 (June 8): General Sani Abacha died unexpectedly of a heart attack as he is poised to stand as the sole candidate in the August presidential elections.

1998 (June 9): Abubakar sworn in as Nigeria's eighth military ruler,by the "Provisional Ruling Council" (29 military officers). He promises to restore civilian rule.

1998 (July 7): Moshood Abiola died in detention of a heart disease before he could be released in a general amnesty for political prisoners. Rioting in Lagos led to over 60 deaths.

1998 (July 20): Abubakar promises to relinquish power on May 29, 1999.

1998 (Aug 31): People's Democratic Party becomes first major party to launch itself.

1998 (Sept 7): Release of draft constitution.

1998 (Nov 3): Obasanjo declares his intention to run for the presidency.

1999 (January 9): Elections to elect governors and legislators for Nigeria's 36 states.

1999 (January 28): Former finance minister Olu Falae selected by Alliance for Democracy (AD) as presidential candidate.

1999 (February 14): The executive of All Peoples Party announces choice of little known Ogbonnaya Onu its presidential candidate.

1999 (February 15): Former military ruler Obasanjo wins the presidential nomination of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

1999 (February 16): Falae named joint candidate of the alliance of All Peoples Party and Alliance for Democracy. Ogbonnaya Onu refuses to stand down for Falae.

1999 (February 17): Electoral commission clears Obasanjo and Falae for presidential elections.

1999 (May): A new Constitution adopted. It is based on the 1979 Constitution.

1999 (May 29): Former Military Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo, is sworn in as Nigeria's democratically elected civilian President.

1999 (July 19): Scandal breaks out in the Federal House of Representatives over the qualifications of the speaker, Ibrahim Salisu Buhari.

1999 (July 21): Ibrahim Salisu Buhari resigns as the Speakerof the Fedral House of Representatives.

1999 (October 27): Zamfara State adopts Sharia Law.