Role of Military in Nigeria's Democratization

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1. O GENERAL BACKGROUND The Third Republic was in 1993 governed by the Third Republican constitution. The constitution was drafted in 1989 when General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), the then military head of state promised to terminate military rule by 1990, a date that that was eventually pushed to 1993. Due to political unrest the election was annulled, this threw the country into turmoil which led to the then Minister of Defence General Sani Abacha becoming the head of state. He ruled Nigeria from November 17th 1993 to June 8th 1998 when he died. General Abdulsalami Abubakar became the Head of state following the death of General Sani Abacha, He paved the way for the re-emergence of democracy in Nigeria, by arranging for general elections which culminated in General Olusegun Obasanjo becoming the democratically elected president in 1999, thus giving birth to the start of the Fourth Republic. Since 1999 the country has been governed according to the constitution of the Fourth Republic. It was in many ways a revival of the second Republic, which was in place between 1979-1983 and has since suffered many of the same problems encountered during the second Republic such as multiple ministries which made policy planning difficult. Hence the transition to democratic rule in the country did not mark the end of the significant role the military continues to play in the affairs of the country, however the military has for long been linked with negativism and suffered many criticisms, however it is not absolutely true that they are solely responsible for the misfortunes of the Nigerian nation state (Muftuang, 2011). The Nigerian military have contributed significantly to the running and successful maintenance of the country’s democracy by providing security for lives and properties, ensuring the country is protected from disintegration and external aggression,

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