Nigerian Military and Power Relations in Democratic Governance 1960-2012

Abstract

Nigeria had an experience of prolonged military rule and its bureaucracies which compelled hardship in preserving civil democracy in the country. However, in May 29, 1999 the Nigerian military surrendered the vehicle of governance for democratic leadership which in May 2012, Nigeria celebrated thirteen years of uninterrupted civil democratic dispensation, the longest in her fifty-three years of existence as an independent nation. Previous experiments with democracy had failed due to a combination of
societal and military-related forces. The peculiarity of ex-military officer in occupying strategic positions mostly within the two main organs of “legislation” and “execution” in the current civil democratic government has stimulated the entire processes and this factor have certainly resulted to positive civil-military relations and spurred the survival of democracy. This paper explores the military power relations in civilian democratic governance in Nigeria.