By James Rupert
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, June 13, 1998; Page A17

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, June 12—Hundreds of Nigerians held scattered protests today in Lagos to demand an end to military rule, but troops and police dispersed them with tear gas and warning shots, witnesses and news reports said.

The Lagos-based leadership of Nigeria's democracy movement had called for demonstrations today to press Nigeria's new leader, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, to quickly end Nigeria's 15 straight years of military rule by handing power to a transitional government under jailed politician Moshood Abiola.

The protest marked the fifth anniversary of Abiola's apparent victory in a presidential election that was subsequently scuttled by the military.

But relatively few Nigerians responded to the call, underscoring that, while the military government is deeply unpopular, few Nigerians are ready to actively confront it. Democracy activists said protests were held today outside Lagos, but there was no independent report of them.

Many Nigerians are consumed by their daily struggle for survival amid the country's economic collapse. And some activists and Nigerian journalists have said many people want to give Abubakar more time to respond to the popular demand for civilian rule.

Abubakar was named head of state Monday night after his predecessor, Gen. Sani Abacha, died, reportedly of a heart attack. Abacha had promised a handover to civilian rule but maneuvered himself into position as the only legal candidate in presidential elections scheduled for Aug. 1.

Nigerians have overwhelmingly rejected the Abacha transition plan, but Abubakar, upon taking power, declared he would complete it. The democracy movement contends that the Abacha process can only be a front for continued military rule.

The government had banned today's protests, and police and troops heavily deployed forces around Lagos to prevent them. At a square in the Yaba district, an estimated 200 people, mostly young men, gathered. Many carried anti-government placards and leaflets, according to news agencies and Nigerian journalists.

As pro-democracy leaders headed by human rights lawyer Gani Fawehinmi arrived to begin a rally, police swept into the square, firing tear gas canisters and warning shots into the air. No deaths or injuries were immediately reported.

People fled, and Fawehinmi collapsed from the tear gas and was taken away by police. His spokesman in the United States, Lanre Banjo, said tonight that police had charged Fawehinmi with inciting the public against the government and had released him after a few hours.

In all, Banjo said, the protest's organizing group, the Joint Action Committee of Nigeria, was aware of about 40 people who had been arrested.

Police also took to the streets in Ibadan, but the city, Nigeria's second-largest, remained calm, the BBC reported. Anti-government riots in Ibadan left seven dead last month.

Lagos and Ibadan are the main cities of Nigeria's ethnic Yorubas, who are the country's most alienated group. Yorubas say they are denied a fair share of political power by northern ethnic groups -- including Hausas and Fulanis -- that have dominated the military and the government since Nigeria's independence from Britain in 1960.

Today's protest underscored that Nigeria has suffered more or less continual crisis and confrontation for five years.

In 1993, the northern-dominated government of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, having promised a return to civilian rule, held elections on June 12 for a civilian president. But when the vote count showed Abiola, a southern Yoruba, crushing his northern, Hausa-speaking opponent, Bashir Tofa, the government canceled the vote, throwing the country into an uproar.

Babangida soon surrendered power to a military-backed civilian interim government, which Abacha pushed aside after three months. A year later, he jailed Abiola for insisting on his claim to power, and protests have continued sporadically since then.