Military Coups as a Negation of Social Revolutions: the Nigerian Experience

Abstract

The military in Nigeria has dominated the socio-political landscape of the country for more than thirty years sporadically.
Within these years, the military had executed far reaching reforms and policies in the socio-economic and political substructures of the
national economy. Although the military had made some progress in areas where civilian administration had failed, military incursion
into politics still negates a populist social revolution, thus failed to institute a genuine democratic culture in the country. This paper
attempts an examination of military adventurism from the backdrop of revolutionary pressures in Nigeria and contends that such
interventions foreclosed the chances of structural change by the people. The paper concludes that a social revolution is a fundamental
approach to a genuine democratic culture in Nigeria.