ABUJA, May 26 (AFP) - Nigeria will Saturday start its third attempt at civilian rule when president-elect Olusegun Obasanjo is sworn into power, ending more than 15 years of military regimes. Following are key dates in Nigerian history: 1914: British Governor Frederick Lugard creates Nigeria, bringing together previously separate territories in the north and south of the country. 1960: Nigeria gains independence from Britain on October 1, 1960 and starts its first experiment in civilian rule. 1966: January 15, 1966, junior officers attempt a military coup. The coup is put down by General Aguyi Ironsi who takes power, starting 13 years of military rule. He is killed in a coup six months later. The man who takes charge is Lieutenant-Colonel (later General) Yakubu Gowon. 1966-1975: General Gowon overcomes an attempted secession by the eastern region in the 1967-70 civil war in which over a million die. He is removed from power while attending a summit of the Organisation of African Unity in Kampala in July 1975. 1975-1976: General Murtala Muhammed takes over from Gowon but is assassinated in February 1976. 1976-1979: General Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammed's deputy, takes over and three years later organises elections and becomes the first modern African military leader to hand over power voluntarily to an elected civilian. 1979-1983: Nigeria begins its second period of civilian rule under northerner Shehu Shagari. He is overthrown in a coup on December 31 1983, which puts General Mohammed Buhari in as head of state. 1983-85: Buhari is himself overthrown in August 1985 in a coup led by General Ibrahim Babangida. 1985-1993: Babangida maintains military rule until 1993, when he holds elections. When those elections are won by southern tycoon Moshood Abiola, they are annulled and a military-appointed civilian regime is put in place. 1993-1998: That regime is overthrown by former defence chief General Sani Abacha who rules Nigeria with an iron fist up until his death from a suspected heart attack in June 1998. 1998-1999: Abacha's successor General Abdulsalami Abubakar promises a handover to a civilian regime on May 29, 1999. 1999: Presidential elections take place on February 27, won by Obasanjo leading to the May 29 handover.  