Taming the Monster

Abstract

This article is an in-depth analysis of civil-military relations in Nigeria's nascent democracy. It chronicles the factors responsible for the Nigerian army's descent into the abyss—once a professional body—shortly after political independence in 1960. The author argues that much still needs to be done to effectively tame the military, which has indeed become a monster. However, unless the “contradictory pressures of depolitization and renewed political involvement” are curtailed, the hope of a consolidated democracy in Nigeria, and in virtually all other states emerging from military absolutism, will remain a mirage after all, despite all pretensions to the contrary.