The Machinery of Government during the Military Regime in Nigeria
| Author | Adeoye Akinsanya |
| Published date | 01 December 1976 |
| Date | 01 December 1976 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085237604200404 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The
Machinery
of
Government
during
the
Military
Regime in
Nigeria
UDC
323.276:354(669)
by
Adeoye
AKINSANYA,
Lecturer
in
Political
Science,
University
of
Lagos
One
of
the
most
significant
global
pheno-
mena
of
the
post-World-War-II
period
has
been
the
growing
involvement
of
the
military
in
the
politics
of
Third
World
countries
(1),
and
the
substantial
number
of
countries
which
have
military
regimes
is
indicative
of
the
scope
of
this
involvement.
Unfortunately,
studies
of
military
intervention
in
politics
of
many
Third
World
countries
have
focused,
until
recently,
almost
exclusively
on
the
causes
and
neglected
the
consequences
of
military
intervention
(2).
This
paper
attempts
to
examine
the
machinery
of
government
in
Nigeria
during
the
military
regime.
Elsewhere,
we
have
examined
the
role
of
the
military
in
the
country’s
develop-
mental
efforts
(3).
THE
ARMY
TAKE-OVER
On
15
January
1966,
the
First
Nigerian
Republic
fell,
and
on
the
16th,
Nigeria
formally
came
under
a
military
rule.
The
collapse
of
the
First
Republic
stemmed
from
the
inability
of
the
politicians
to
resolve
fundamental
socio-
economic
problems,
their
inability
to
agree
on
certain
basic
rules
of
the
game,
maladminis-
tration,
widespread
corruption
among
party
functionaries,
intensive
inter-elite
struggles,
political
imbalance
in
the
federal
set-up
(4),
and,
above
all,
a
shift
of
political
legitimacy
from
corrupt
and
incompetent
politicians
to
‘ those
to
whom
the
implementation
of
force
must
necessarily
be
entrusted’,
namely,
the
army
and
the
police
(5).
Given
these
cir-
cumstances,
many
Nigerians
were
not
surprised
to
hear
on
the
network
of
the
Nigerian
Broad-
casting
Corporation
(NBC)
in
the
early
morning
of
15
January
1966
that
a ’
dissident
section ’
of
the
Nigerian
Army
had
mutinied’,
and
had
kidnapped
the
Prime
Minister,
Sir
Abuba-
kar
Tafawa
Balewa
and
the
Federal
Minister
of
Finance,
Chief
Festus
Okotie-Eboh
and
taken
them
to
an
unknown
destination
(6).
Meanwhile,
the
Council
of
Ministers
met
on
the
16th
at
the
Lion
Buildings
to
name
a
successor
to
Sir
Abubakar
in
accordance
with
Section
92
of
the
Republican
Constitution.
As
they
could
not
name
an
acting
prime
min-
ister,
the
General
Officer
Commanding
the
Armed
Forces,
Major-General
J.
T.
U.
Aguiyi-
(1)
S.P.
Huntington,
The
Soldier
and
State
(Cam-
bridge,
Mass.:
Harvard
University
Press,
1957);
S.E.
Finer,
The
Man
on
Horseback
(New
York :
Praeger,
1962);
C.E.
Welch,
Jr.,
Soldier
and
State
in
Africa
(Evanston,
III. :
Northwestern
University
Press,
1970);
R.
First,
Power
in
Africa
(New
York :
Pantheon
Books,
1970);
and
A.R.
Zolberg,
The
Military
Deca-
de
in
Africa’,
World
Politics,
25,
2
(January
1973),
pp.
309-331.
(2)
H.
Bienen
(ed.),
The
Military
and
Modern-
ization
(Chicago :
Aldine
Attherton,
1971);
J.J.
John-
son
(ed.),
The
Role
of
the
Military
in
Underdeveloped
Countries
(Princeton
University
Press,
1967);
and
C.E.
Welch,
Jr.,
and
A.K.
Smith,
Military
Role
and
Rule
(North
Scituate,
Mass.:
Duxbury
Press,
1974).
(3)
A.
Akinsanya,
The
Military
As
a
Modernising
Instrument
in
a
New
Nation:
The
Nigerian
Ex-
perience’,
presented
at
the
17th
Annual
Convention
of
the
International
Studies
Association,
Royal
York
Hotel,
Toronto,
Canada,
February
25-29,
1976.
(4)
J.O.
Colonel,
’Political
Integration:
the
Nigerian
Case’,
in
African
Integration
and
Disintegration,
edited
by
A.
Hazlewood.
(London:
Oxford
Uni-
versity
Press,
1967),
pp.
129-184;
R.
Luckham,
The
Nigerian
Military
(Cambridge
University
Press,
1971);
J.P.
Mackintosh,
Nigerian
Government
and
Politics
(London:
George
Allen
and
Unwin,
1966),
esp.
pp.
545-628;
Zolberg,
Military
Rule
and
Political
Devel-
opment
in
Tropical
Africa’,
and
B.J.
Dudley,
’The
Military
and
Politics
in
Nigeria’,
in
Military
Pro-
fession
and
Regimes,
edited
by
J.
van
Doorn
(The
Hague:
Mouton,
1969),
pp.
175-218.
(5)
Zolberg,
’The
Structure
of
Political
Conflict
in
the
New
States
of
Tropical
Africa’,
American
Political
Science
Review,
67
(March
1968),
77.
(6)
Eliminated
in
the
January
1966
coup
were
Sir
Abubakar
Tafawa
Balewa,
Sir
Ahmadu
Bello
(North-
ern
Nigeria
Premier),
Chief
Samuel
Ladoke
Akintola
(Western
Nigeria
Premier),
Chief
Festus
Okotie-Eboh,
Brigadier
Mainmalari
(CO,
2nd
Brigade),
Brigadier
Ademulegun
(CO,
Ist
Brigade),
Colonel
Muhammed
(Chief
of
Staff,
AHQ),
Lt.-Colonel
Pam
(Adjutant
General),
Lt.-Colonel
Unegbe
(Quartermaster
General),
Colonel Sodeinde
(CO,
Nigerian
Military
Training
College
and
Deputy
CO,
Nigerian
Defence
Academy),
and
Lt.-Colonel
Largema
(CO,
4th
Battalion,
Ibadan).
Lucham,
passim.
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