Impact of military rule on Nigerian federalism: evidence from the Babangida administration, 1985-1993

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Periodical article

Title:	Impact of military rule on Nigerian federalism: evidence from the Babangida administration, 1985-1993
Author:	Akindele, R.A.
Year:	1998
Periodical:	The Nigerian Journal of Economic and Social Studies
Volume:	40
Issue:	2
Pages:	189-207
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	federalism military regimes
Abstract:	A theoretical explication of the concepts of federalism and military rule demonstrate that they are antithetical. An analysis of the practice and working of the so-called federal experiment in Nigeria between 1985 and 1993 under General Babangida also leads to the conclusion that the hierarchical and authoritarian structure of military rule is incongruent with federalism, whose fundaments are a supportive political culture and democratic principles. Although the military government of Babangida paraded as a federal government, it suspended the constitution, ruled through decrees, imposed and deposed military governors on each state, disobeyed the courts, and was accountable to no one. There is therefore neither a conceptual justification nor an empirical basis for the nomenclature of 'federal military government' often used to describe military rule under Babangida. Bibliogr., sum.