The Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM) was a Nigerian political party that was one of the five state-sanctioned political parties allowed by the government of General Sani Abacha to participate in state assembly elections held in December 1997, and in parliamentary elections held in April 1998.
[1] The Grassroots Democratic Movement headed by Alhaji Muhammadu Dikko Yusufu had a left wing orientation.
[3] Dr Tunji Braithwaite, a lawyer who was called to the bar in 1961 and founded the Nigeria Advanced Party in 1983, hoped to be the presidential aspirant for the Grassroots Democratic Movement in 1999.
[4] By May 1998, Muhammadu Dikko Yusufu, a former Nigerian police chief, was suing the GDM for nominating Abacha as its presidential candidate.
[5] When General Abdulsalami Abubakar succeeded Sani Abacha after the latter's death in June 1998,[6][7] he dissolved the five parties and announced that democratic elections would be held during the first quarter of 1999.