General Olusegun Obasanjo, who served as the military head of state between February 13, 1976, and October 01, 1979, succeeded General Murtala Muhammad, who was assassinated in an abortive coup. In the February 27, 1999 election, General Obasanjo contested against Olu Falae of the joint parties of Alliance For Democracy and All People’s Party. This election saw Obasanjo emerge as the winner with 62.78% of the vote, compared to Olu Falae's 37.22%.
President Obasanjo officially assumed office as the democratically elected president of Nigeria on May 29, 1999. This date, May 29th, was annually celebrated as Democracy Day in Nigeria, marking the day the democratically elected president took office, until 2018. In 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari declared June 12th as the new Democracy Day, commemorating the democratic election of Moshood Abiola on June 12, 1993. Abiola's victory was wrongly nullified by the government of General Ibrahim Babangida, who detained Abiola upon his rightful declaration of himself as president of Nigeria.