When President Olusegun Obasanjo leaves office at the end of May, Nigeria would have achieved its first democratic transfer of power from one civilian administration to another - in spite of the reluctance of the outgoing administration.

For two years, Nigerians stood up in unusual unity against a bid by Mr Obasanjo to have the nation’s constitution amended to extend his tenure by another term of four years - in order, his supporters claimed, to allow him to complete his reform programme.

And the people won a significant victory when the Senate threw out the constitutional amendment bill in May last year.

That struggle taught Nigerians the important lesson that democracy would survive only if they applied themselves to protecting and nurturing it.

Vigilance and distrust of government’s motives became the watchword - and in a sense, this would be counted as one of the major legacies of Obasanjo’s eight-year tenure.

At the time of his swearing-in in 1999, many Nigerians were cynical about the chances of the government lasting this long.

The fear of the military staging a comeback hung thick in the air. The president himself must have sensed it, because his very first action in office was the unexpected but tactical retirement of all military chiefs and their immediate replacement.

That action was followed by the retirement of all military officers who had held political appointments in the preceding military regime. The steps were widely applauded and they sent a clear message to the barracks and officers’ messes that the military must henceforth subject itself to control by civil government. For the first time since independence in 1960, Nigeria has now had democratic governance for eight uninterrupted years.

A hallmark of the Obasanjo presidency has been the emphasis placed on curbing official corruption.

From his very first day in office the president promised that it would no longer be “business-as-usual”. He set up the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and installed at its head Nuhu Ribadu, then an assistant commissioner of police.