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Military Hegemony and the Transition Program

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

J.’Kayode Fayemi
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Extract

This article cautions that the democratization process in Nigeria is not a foregone conclusion. Given the nature of the competing interests within Nigeria’s military hierarchy, there is nothing to suggest that every officer within the ruling military elite has embraced this transition project. This article focuses on the place of the military in the transition program.

Although entrenched military interests are not the only threat to the transition program, there is no doubt that the prominent role played by retired and serving military officers in the whole process of party formation and selection of presidential candidates has exacerbated concerns about the specter of militarism. While some in Nigeria simply see the military as the armed wing of the dominant oligarchy, others conclude that the military actually is the oligarchy.

Type
Part 2: Transition Without Transformation?
Information
African Issues , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , 1999 , pp. 69 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1999 

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References

Notes

1. See “The Plot to Stop Obasanjo,” Tell (Nigeria), March 8, 1999, esp. the interview with Colonel (Rtd.) Abubakar Umar.

2. Adekanye, J. Bayo, Military Occupation and Social Stratification (Ibadan:University of Ibadan Press, 1993), 30 Google Scholar.

3. Pius Okigbo, address of chairman of the Panel of Inquiry into the finances of the Central Bank of Nigeria, 1988 (1994).

4. Olukoshi, Adebayo, Structural Adjustment and the Crisis of Governance in Africa, Research Report 104 (Upsalla: Nordiska Afrikainstutet, 1998)Google Scholar.

5. Osaghae, Eghosa, Structural Adjustment and Ethnicity in Nigeria, Research Report 98 (Upsalla: Nordiska Afrikainstutet, 1995)Google Scholar.

6. Guest editor’s note: The data to support the author’s claim can be obtained from (http://www.cdd.org.uk) directly or from the author or the guest editors. Due to lack of space, we are unable to present the data here.

7. Brenes, Amoldo and Casas, Kevin, eds., Soldiers as Businessmen: The Economic Activities of Central America ’s Militaries (San Jose: Oscar Arias Foundation, 1998)Google Scholar.

8. A former military administrator in Oyo state, Colonel Usman made it clear in a public gathering that the military was here to stay! According to him, even if the masses managed to remove them from direct political control, they would scale the fence and get involved.