The name Olusegun Obasanjo is not strange to anybody around the world. In Nigeria, Obasanjo is a household name, a civil war hero, an administrator, a successful farmer, the first military head of State to have organized an election and handed over successfully to a civilian government, a nation-builder who initiated most of Nigeria’s national heritage and a builder of men who introduced many Nigerian technocrats to governance and their indelible marks in governance are still very visible, the only Nigerian to have been nominated as United Nation’s Secretary General, the first former head of State to be imprisoned, though on a wrong accusation, and the first person to have ruled Nigeria twice (between 1976-1979 and 1999-2007).

Olusegun Obasanjo has been the most important and controversial figure in Nigeria's first 50 years of independence and the most powerful African of his time. John Iliffe examines Olusegun Obasanjo's complex personality and the extreme controversy he arouses among Nigerians, and illustrates the immense demands made on a leader of a state like Nigeria.

General Obasanjo was elected Head of State of Nigeria in March 1999. This timely book covers the first thirty nine years of his life. Previously a military head of state, he voluntarily relinquished power to an elected civilian administration in 1979. He has campaigned for an end to military rule in Nigeria, and in 1995 he was imprisoned by the late Nigerian dictator, General Abacha, for alleged involvement in a coup attempt. He was designated a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, and released in 1998.

In the cataclysmic decade that is the focus of this book, Nigeria was subject to several near-death experiences. These began when the country nearly tore itself apart after the northern-led military government annulled the results of a 1993 presidential election won by the southerner Moshood Abiola, and ended with former military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo being the unlikely conduit of democracy. This mini-history of a nation's life also reflects on three mesmerizing protagonists who personified that era. First up is Abiola: the multi-billionaire businessman who had his election victory voided by the generals who made him rich, and who was later assassinated. General Sani Abacha was the mysterious, reclusive ruler under whose watch Abiola was arrested and pro-democracy activists (including Abiola's wife) were murdered. He also oversaw a terrifying Orwellian state security operation. Although Abacha is today reviled as a tyrant, the author eschews selective amnesia, reminding Nigerians that they goaded him into seizing power. The third protagonist is Obasanjo, who emerged from prison to return to power as an elected civilian leader. The penumbra of military rule still looms over Nigeria nearly twenty years after the soldiers departed, and key personalities featured in this book remain in government, including the current president.

Acculturative Stress and Change in Nigerian Society argues that, in the aftermath of European domination and colonial rule, African struggle and the relationships between social groups in Africa can be traced to the legacy of colonialism as well as events in the post-colonial struggle of domination by the elites. This book locates ethnic conflict in Nigeria not only in the colonial history, but in the attitude and practices of the political elites. Using the Annang of Nigeria as a case study, the book traces their history and struggle for ethnic identity and recognition from pre-colonial times to the post-civil war period. It further argues that colonialism destroyed the Annang identity but the struggle for power following colonialism has also raised other problems. What happened to the Annang represents an example that was repeated all over Africa. The author maintains that what is happening among the Annang is symptomatic of the African struggle. This book moves beyond the usual discussion of the effects of colonialism in the continent which views the modern state as a monolithic whole. It presents as a real-life example of the effects of colonialism and power relationships in the post-independent continent, and therefore, a window through which to see the African problems in modern times. The African elites who took power from the colonialists simply continued policies that did not promote growth and development. It further argues that specific actions and policies in the pre- and post-colonial period contributed to where the continent is today.