An Assessment of Civil Military Relations in Nigeria As an Emerging Democracy, 1999-2007
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AN ASSESSMENT OF CIVIL MILITARY RELATIONS IN NIGERIA AS AN EMERGING DEMOCRACY, 1999-2007 BY MOHAMMED LAWAL TAFIDA DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA NIGERIA JUNE 2015 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis entitled An Assessment of Civil-Military Relations in Nigeria as an Emerging Democracy, 1999-2007 has been carried out and written by me under the supervision of Dr. Hudu Ayuba Abdullahi, Dr. Mohamed Faal and Professor Paul Pindar Izah in the Department of Political Science and International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. The information derived from the literature has been duly acknowledged in the text and a list of references provided in the work. No part of this dissertation has been previously presented for another degree programme in any university. Mohammed Lawal TAFIDA ____________________ _____________________ Signature Date CERTIFICATION PAGE This thesis entitled: AN ASSESSMENT OF CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS IN NIGERIA AS AN EMERGING DEMOCRACY, 1999-2007 meets the regulations governing the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and is approved for its contribution to knowledge and literary presentation. Dr. Hudu Ayuba Abdullahi ___________________ ________________ Chairman, Supervisory Committee Signature Date Dr. Mohamed Faal________ ___________________ _______________ Member, Supervisory Committee Signature Date Professor Paul Pindar Izah ___________________ _______________ Member, Supervisory Committee Signature Date Dr. Yusufu Abdullahi Yakubu ___________________ _______________ Head of Department Signature Date Professor Adamu Zoaka Hassan ____________________ _______________ Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies Signature Date DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my parents- Dr. Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, Hajiya Hauwa Muhammad Lawal and Hajiya Salamatu Tafida; to my maternal uncle-Professor Dalhatu Muhammad; to my family- Hajiya Amina, Dalhatu, Ibrahim and Mu’azu; to my siblings- Hajiya Sa’adatu Ahmed, Mohammed Sani, Mohammed Salisu, Shehu Usman, Umar Faruk, Zainab, Hadiza and Abubakar Sadiq. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the name Of Allah, the Guide to the Right Path and the Source of all Knowledge that we know and know not. One of the mercies bestowed by Allah to mankind is the capacity to reason in order to distinguish reality from illusion, the truth from falsehood and right from wrong. I want to acknowledge the invaluable efforts of the supervisory committee- Dr. Hudu Abdullahi, Dr. Mohamed Faal and Professor Paul Izah who despite their tight schedules supervised the research to its conclusion. This work would not have been possible without their respective co- operation. Professor Ejembi Unobe raised a number of issues that helped to give the research a better focus during and after the post-field seminar. The critical observations and suggestions made by Dr. Musa Idris of the Public Administration Department during the internal examination widened my narrow intellectual horizon. Malam Saidu Adamu, Dr. David Moveh and Dr. Jacob Audu provided useful suggestions during the seminars. Professor ‘Rauf Ayo Dunmoye, as an internal examiner certified that the corrections pointed out in the external examination were effected before the production of the final draft. I want to acknowledge the Head of Department, Dr. Yusufu Abdullahi Yakubu who showed concern towards the progress of the research work. I would like to extend my profound appreciation to all my lecturers in the Department for their relevant inputs during my seminars- Professor Kayode Omojuwa, Dr. Abubakar Siddique Mohammed, Malam Garba Aminu and Dr. Umar Mohammed Ka’oje. To my colleagues who cheered me towards the finish line- Dr. Aliyu Yahaya, Dr. Daiyabu Muhammad Hassan, Malam Abdullahi Tanko Umaru, Hajiya Rahanatu Lawal, Malam Bashir Bello Gwarzo, Dr. Nurudden Musa Muhammad, Malam Hamza Abdulaziz, Dr. Habibu Bappah, Malam Mohammed Shuaibu, Malam Ismail Aminu, Miss Rahila Yakubu, Hajiya Halima Sa’adiya Adamu, Hajiya Khadijah Sanusi Gumbi, Hajiya Fatima Mahmud, Hajiya Rabiat Abdussalam and Malam Danladi Aliyu. I thank you all. I shall not forget those who did not live to witness the conclusion of this work- Dr. Peter Odofin, Dr. Sabo Bako, Dr. Suleiman Sunday, Mr. Paul Mutfwang (General) and Dr. Sani Mu’azu (Baba Sani) of Biological Sciences (May their souls rest in peace). I am also grateful to the following colleagues: Professor Mustapha Gwadabe, Malam Toure Kazah and Malam Nasiru Muhammad, Professor Muhammad Auwal Umar, Dr. Sadiq Umar (YK) and Dr. Muhammad Kabir Isa for their daily encouragements; Professor John Ayam for his critical comments on one of the earlier drafts; Dr. Kabiru Mato, Engineer Abba Sule, my maternal cousins- Dr. Shehu Yahaya and Dr. Lawal Dalhatu Muhammad. Lastly, some individuals kindly assisted in sourcing for relevant periodicals, policy documents and helping to arrange some of the interviews. Their efforts are appreciated in great measure. ABSTRACT Contemporary civil-military relations is mainly concerned with the civilian leadership’s control of the military in a democracy. As such, this study assessed the factors that shaped the relationship between the civilian leadership and the military establishment in Nigeria (1999- 2007).This is because Nigeria’s path of political development and by extension its civil-military relations differs from what obtains in countries with well-established democratic traditions. The study adopted and modified Peter Feaver’s Agency theory of civil-military relations. The study assumed that the nature of the interactions between the civilian and military leaderships, the role of the civil society and the international environment were prominent in shaping Nigeria’s civil- military relations since the inception of the elected civilian government in May 1999. The factors identified include the expertise of the civilian leadership and the willingness of the military to accept directives from the civilian leadership, the constitutional and policy frameworks under which these civilian and military leaderships operated and the roles of civil society and international actors notably the advanced democracies. Employing the qualitative content analysis method in the collection and assessment of data, findings showed the following: the civilian leadership’s knowledge of military matters enhanced the capacity to control the Nigerian military; the role of the civil society as advocate of liberal democratic civil-military relations was very limited; the military’s acceptance to obey constituted authority was a determining factor in civilian control capacity and the role of the international community in terms of its expectations and aid in the area of security sector reform gave an impetus to the capacity for civilian control of the military. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE TITLE PAGE DECLARATION------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i CERTIFICATION----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ii DEDICATION---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS------------------------------------------------------------------------ iv ABSTRACT------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- v CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.1-Background to the Study--------------------------------------------------------------------------1 1.2-Statement of Research Problem------------------------------------------------------------------4 1.3-Research Questions--------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 1.4-The Aim and Objectives of the Study-----------------------------------------------------------6 1.5-Assumptions of the Study-------------------------------------------------------------------------6 1.6-Significance of the Study-------------------------------------------------------------------------8 1.7-Scope and Limitations----------------------------------------------------------------------------9 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1- Introduction-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11 2.1.1-The Classical Liberal Assumption in Civil-Military Relations-----------------------------12 2.1.2-The Phenomena of Military Professionalism and Intervention-----------------------------14 2.1.3-Typologies of Civil-Military Relations--------------------------------------------------------20 2.1.4-Causes of Military Coups------------------------------------------------------------------------26 2.1.5- The Legitimacy Question of Military Rule---------------------------------------------------34 2.1.6-Military Withdrawal to the Barracks -----------------------------------------------------------38 2.1.7-Guarding the Guardian of the State: Civil Control of the Military-------------------------52 2.1.8- Contemporary Theories of ‘Democratic’ Civil Military Relations -----------------------63 2.1.9-Summary of the Literature-----------------------------------------------------------------------75 2.2-Theoretical Framework---------------------------------------------------------------------------76 CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH 3.1-Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------84 3.2-Population in the Study-------------------------------------------------------------------------------85