It became the fact that it could be held at all, that was the thing, the fact that it could be held at all. No one counted five million, we didn't have five million but it was the symbolic thing. It unleashed in people the realization that we have the power to challenge. We don't have to just accept this thing that is being done to us in our country, lying down. They don't know what Freedom is.
Freedom is essential.
UAD began to plan a series of rolling demonstrations in Nigeria's major cities against Abacha's self-succession plans. Senior politicians who had been quiet began to speak out. But the showdown with Abacha never came. He really represented the worst of the military, and once he died, it was clear to the Nigerian people that the military could not in any way represent anything positive. And I think the military got the message and agreed on the need for a quick relinquishing of power.