OKOLO, SOMTOBECHUKWU SYLVESTER (2026) MILITARY INTERVENTION AND ITS IMPACTS ON DEMOCRATIC STABILITY IN AFRICA: A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA. Other thesis, GODFREY OKOYE UNIVERSITY, ENUGU.
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Abstract
This study examines a focused and specific problem: how military intervention has eroded the rule of law in Nigerian states, and why that erosion has proven so resistant to repair under more than 25 years of civilian governance since 1999. Nigeria experienced six military coups between 1966 and 1999, producing 29 years of predominantly military governance that systematically replaced statute law with executive decrees, ousted the jurisdiction of the courts, suspended constitutional rights, and normalised security force impunity. The study argues that these actions were not incidental to military governance but constitutive of it, and that their institutional consequences persist measurably into Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. Guided by three research questions and three corresponding hypotheses, the study adopts a qualitative historical-comparative case study methodology drawing on secondary sources. The theoretical framework draws on Civil-Military Relations Theory (Huntington, 1957; Finer, 1962), Praetorian State Theory (Huntington, 1968; Luckham, 1994), and Democratic Consolidation Theory (Linz and Stepan, 1996; Diamond, 1999). Ten empirical scholars reviewed in Chapter Two identify the gap this study fills: no existing work has systematically examined how military governance structurally eroded the rule of law specifically within Nigerian states. The findings confirm all three hypotheses. Military rule cumulatively dismantled legal institutional capacity across six successive regimes. In the Fourth Republic, judicial independence remains weak, security forces retain significant legal impunity, corruption is structural, and citizens’ confidence in legal recourse is low. Comparatively, African countries with shorter military histories Botswana, Senegal, Ghana consistently outperform Nigeria and the recently coup-affected Sahel states on every available rule of law measure. The study concludes with six targeted recommendations for the Nigerian government, the security sector, ECOWAS and the AU, countries currently under military rule, and international partners.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Other) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Management and Social Sciences |
| Depositing User: | CHIBUEZE EZE |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Aug 2026 10:52 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Aug 2026 10:52 |
| URI: | http://eprints.gouni.edu.ng/id/eprint/6189 |
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