Nigeria: Grisly Record

Coups have become the rule rather than the exception in populous Nigeria, which is divided into four rival regions and torn by tribal competition. In 1966 alone, two rulers have been murdered, along with countless of their countrymen, in bloody riots and slaughters. When Army Boss Yakubu Gowon, 31, seized power in July in the last coup, he promised that his military government would quickly "fade away," presumably without the necessity of another coup. Last week Gowon announced that he had changed his mind, at least for now, and that he personally would draft a new constitution for Nigeria. In...

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