The president apparently dismissed the three service chiefs to strengthen his control over Nigeria's armed forces. The president is motivated by looming presidential elections, just a few years away, and concerns over the increasingly tribal and ethnic fractures of Nigerian politics. He is trying to pre-empt the Hausa from dominating the military again. This struggle over the 80,000-man Nigerian military is important for the survival of the Obasanjo regime and the supply of oil, particularly to the United States. Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and a top supplier to the American market.
Ethnic divisions define Nigerian national politics.
Of Nigeria s 250 ethnic groups, three the Hausa-Fulani in the North, the Yoruba in the Southwest and Igbo in the Southeast comprise more than 65 percent of the population. There is a constant struggle for power and control over the nation's oil wealth. President Obasanjo, an ethnic Yoruba, has tried to limit Northern dominance in both national politics and the upper ranks of the military. For most of Nigeria's 41 years of independence, the mostly Muslim, Northern ethnic Hausa-Fulani controlled the military and national politics. In 1985, for instance, an estimated 70 percent of senior officers were from the Northern or Middle Belt region.