A mini-history of a nation's life told in the stories of three protagonists

The Nigerian Army is an institution that has played a pivotal role in the affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. For more than half of the 57 years since Independence, Nigeria was directly ruled by a Military Government, largely composed of army officers, and always headed by one. It is impossible to explore any facet of modern Nigerian history or society without the military (and in particular the Army) looming significantly. Whilst several authors have documented the history of Nigeria (and significantly less many of its Army), rarely, if ever, has the impact of the politics of Nigeria on the Army, and vice-versa, formed the exclusive subject of study. This volume is an endeavor to fill that gap. The period leading up to the Army's first overt entry into the politics of Nigeria is reviewed, firstly the pre-Independence period, and then the years immediately following independence. The effects of the Nigerianisation of the Army, especially of the officer corps, and of the policy decisions made following the passing of control over the Army from the British to the Nigerian Government are considered. The political circumstances surrounding the Army's first overt entry into politics - the January 1966 coup - and the political performance of the subsequent first military regime are discussed, as a precursor to the second coup in July 1966. The impact of the Army's direct involvement in politics on the military performance of both sides in the Civil War is explored. After a nine-year interregnum, in July 1975 Nigeria returned to the era of coups, with at least eight attempted and successful coups, some of them bloody, over the next quarter century before the return to civilian rule in 1999. The personalities leading the resultant military Governments, and the policies of those Governments, are explored, in an attempt to discern their legacy on the political development of Nigeria, and on the Nigerian Army as an institution.

A sophisticated history of colonial interactions in Nigeria during World War II drawing on hitherto unexplored archival resources.

The Nigerian civil war was the watershed in the history of the Nigerian military. It demonstrated the need for a modern, professional army, navy and airforce, with sophisticated weaponry, and led to a huge increase in expenditure and personnel. It also demonstrated - very significantly - how the military could wield supreme political power. Peters traces the history of the Nigerian military from its colonial constabulary-type organization as part of the Royal West African Frontier Force, to the establishment of the military state. Revealing the extent to which the military is considered a glamorous calling and a passport to wealth, Peters shows how its officers are drawn from the educated elite and play leading roles in all aspects of life: political, economic and social. The military has succeeded in guaranteeing a measure of national cohesion, and has increased the number of states in Nigeria to ensure regional stability; its ranks include all ethnic groups; and it has played an important role as an international peace-keeping force. But while it has claimed to correct the evils of civilian rule, it has resisted democracy and has failed to correct the financial profligacy, economic mismanagement, corruption and nepotism it sought to eradicate. This study provides a thorough account of Nigerian society through a focus on its single most powerful institution.

Mohammed Chris Alli is a retired Nigerian Army Major General who served as Chief of Army Staff from 1993 to 1994 under General Sanni Abacha's regime and was military governor of Plateau State Nigeria from August 1985 to 1986 during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. Many years later, he was appointed interim administrator of the state during a 2004 crisis in the state following ethno-religious killings in Shendam, Yelwa Local Government. In this anthology, organized as a symposium on Mohammed Christopher Alli’s work, he is identified as one of those critical and rational thinkers, philosophers, albeit, a General in the Nigerian Army, whose work finds a befitting logical space in the contemporary African philosophical tapestry. The book also captures the elements of military misrule in Nigeria and its undue influence on the body polity; it is a critical survey of past military misadventures, and a satire against false federalism, it is a firm warning against future corruption and impunity in the military.

This book offers a detailed examination of the counter-insurgency operations undertaken by the Nigerian military against Boko Haram between 2011 and 2017. Based on extensive fieldwork conducted with military units in Nigeria, Counter-Insurgency in Nigeria has two main aims. First, it seeks to provide an understanding of the Nigerian military’s internal role – a role that today, as a result of internal threats, pivots towards counter-insurgency. The book illustrates how organizational culture, historical experience, institutions, and doctrine, are critical to understanding the Nigerian military and its attitudes and actions against the threat of civil disobedience, today and in the past. The second aim of the book is to examine the Nigerian military campaign against Boko Haram insurgents – specifically, plans and operations between June 2011 and April 2017. Within this second theme, emphasis is placed on the idea of battlefield innovation and the reorganization within the Nigerian military since 2013, as the Nigerian Army and Air Force recalibrated themselves for COIN warfare. A certain mystique has surrounded the technicalities of COIN operations by the Army against Boko Haram, and this book aims to disperse that veil of secrecy. Furthermore, the work’s analysis of the air force’s role in counter-insurgency is unprecedented within the literature on military warfare in Nigeria. This book will be of great interest to students of military studies, counter-insurgency, counter-terrorism, African politics and security studies in general.

A former general in the Nigerian army, defence attache to Zimbabwe and member of the Abacha caucus, chronicles the role played by the army in Nigerian history, from the first military coup in 1966 to Obasanjo's accession to power in 1998. He describes his own experiences in the army at home and abroad, including a section on his personal interactions with Abacha and the caucus. The author writes in anger at the domination of political hegemony and the subsequent intervention of the military into politics, the perceived dichotomy between people and state, and its implicactions for issues of development and human rights. He states: 'This book is not an indictment of the military of which I am a part. It is my perception of the conduct of my generation and the multifarious forces at work amongst and about them. It is not a verdict on society, rather it is an articulation of the ecstasy, the fears, the constrictions of a nation in turmoil, a nation pulling itself apart.'