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History Of Military Intervention And Administration In Nigeria
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Permanent secretaries pointed
out the harmony while ministers and political appointees watched. With
the defeat, Murtala carried outmovement, listed out his top priorities
and assured a hand over date of 1st October 1979. Though, Murtala was
murdered in a coup. The leader of the group was Lt. Colonel Bukar sukar
Dimka. On October 1,1979, power was taken to an appointed president,
Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Usman Shagari. By December, 31, 1983, the second
Republic was floored, as a coup organized by some senior officers was
relatively peaceful, and successful. In a year and eight months’ time,
in 1985 precisely, they were impeached by their colleagues. Again,
Abacha brought the bad news, referencing lack of consultation and
insensitivity as reasons why they struck. The last military regime
(1998-1999) arranged a brief movement programme that reached the end of
the final result in the emergence of an appointed civilian government
under Olusegun Obasanjo, a retired general and one-time military head of
state. The process also attested the participation of a good number of
retired military officers who had engaged offices in the recent military
eras. The administration completed its two tenors of four years each
and handed over power to another civilian government in May 2007. This
is known to be the longest duration that a civilian era has attained so
far since 1960, Udogu 2002. Years back, arms of the broken civilian
elite, retired and serving military officers secretly planned in
December 1983 to remove a civilian government in Nigeria from power. In
the democratic regime, a new kind of civil-military relations was
birthed. The military has stood in the barracks and a civilian-led
allotment endures within a more or less democratic structure. STATEMENT
OF THE GENERAL PROBLEM The research problem, emanates from the statement
and view of the previous Nigerian President that the days of “Military
coup d’etat’ were gone forever in Nigeria, that democracy has come to
stay…it is now clear to all Nigerians that there is no substitute for
democracy†said Obasanjo (2007). The nine years of democratic practice
in Nigeria has been faced with considerable problems, reminiscences of
militarism. We had witnessed incidences such as the order by President
‘Yar Adua’ to close Channels Television for allegedly informing the
public that he was likely to resign on account of poor health, forceful
closure of the previous Vice President (‘Atiku Abubakar’s)’ office by
former President ‘Obasanjo’ and the Gestapo removal of the Mr. ‘Audu
Ogbe’ as the Chairman of the ruling party all within a democratic
setting. It is very instructive to state, that good governance is the
only panacea against military intervention at the level of supplantment
(complete substitution of civil authority by military rule and law)
while bad governance is an invitation to it. The fact remains that
militarized psyche is a problem to democracy, more disturbing is the
fact that other African countries such as Ghana had their share of
militarism yet has become the democratic college for West Africans. This
would guide the discourse herein. Social environment has been known to
condition the behavioral dispositions of the individuals. The social
environment, which has had considerable impact on the psyche of
Nigerians, has seen the long years of military rule, herein referred to
as militarism. The militarized social culture being displayed in the
democratic dispensation is not unconnected with this. The political
behaviors currently displayed in the democratic space, is the
dialectical phase of militarism. The analysis, which follows, evaluates
this assertion. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The major aim of the
study is to examine the history of military intervention and
administration in Nigeria. Other specific objectives of the study are;
To examine the negative implications of military interventions in
Nigeria. To assess the progress made by the military during military
interventions. To determine the factors that has necessitated the
intervention of the military in Nigerian administration. RESEARCH
QUESTIONS What are the negative implications of military interventions
in Nigeria? What is the progress made by the military during military
interventions? What are the factors that have necessitated the
intervention of the military in Nigerian
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