When Nigerians speak of “the military era,” they often imagine a distant past—khaki uniforms on the evening news, martial music before national broadcasts, decrees read through straight faces, and curfews that pulled entire cities into silence. But the truth is more uncomfortable: the military never really left. Yes, the barracks returned power to civilians in 1999, but the military mentality, the instinct for command, force, fear, and unquestionable authority, still dominates our political culture, public institutions, and even personal relationships. Nigeria is one of the few post-colonial nations whose entire social fabric was rewoven by decades of authoritarian rule. From 1966 to 1999, soldiers governed Nigeria for almost 30 out of 39 years. Only a short window from 1979–1983 allowed civilians a brief taste of democracy before another military coup crushed it. We are still living inside the consequences. This is the story of how those long years militarised nearly all aspects of Nigerian life, often without our awareness, and why Nigeria will continue to decline unless we consciously demilitarise our society, our laws, our institutions, and our minds.
1. When Soldiers Became Presidents:
The Militarisation of Power.
Nigeria’s political system was never designed to breathe under a boot. But from 1966 onward, that became the national reality. Military regimes replaced negotiation with command. Dialogue became weakness. Federalism became a hierarchy.
From Parliament to Supreme Military Council:
General Yakubu Gowon dissolved parliament. Murtala Mohammed and Olusegun Obasanjo entrenched the Supreme Military Council (SMC). Babangida replaced it with the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC). Power sat in the hands of a few officers, not elected representatives. The constitution became optional. Decrees became supreme. Governors became “military administrators.”
This command structure survived the transition to democracy in 1999. Today, Nigerian presidents and governors often behave as though they are still field commanders, centralising power, overriding institutions, and using security agencies to enforce political will.
2. How the Civil Service Became a Military Barracks in Plain Clothes.
Before the coups, Nigeria’s civil service was relatively professional, borrowing the British ethos of bureaucracy driven by expertise. But once military officers began appointing themselves as state governors and federal administrators, everything changed.
A Culture of Fear and Obedience.
Civil servants were taught to: obey without questioning, wait for orders from above, never innovate without authorization, fear the “oga at the top.” This mindset has remained entrenched. Even today, ministries operate like command posts rather than problem-solving institutions.
Erosion of Meritocracy
Appointments depended on loyalty to military rulers. Competence was secondary. Promotions were often influenced by ethnicity, region, or personal closeness to military administrators. Thus the modern Nigerian bureaucracy inherited: rigidity, slow decision-making, culture of deference hierarchical paralysis. The civil service never recovered.
3. Commanding the Economy:
How Military Rule Militarised National Wealth.
Nigeria’s economy became militarised when decrees replaced policy. Decrees Controlled Oil and Money. Soldiers created or controlled: NNPC, River Basin Authorities, The precursor structures of NDDC, Federal Allocation Systems. No parliament debated budgets. No states negotiated revenue. Everything was ordered from above. Officers Became Economic Czars.
From Gowon to Abdulsalami:
Military elites controlled oil blocs. Generals chaired major parastatals. Procurement became opaque and centralised. Public finances operated like intelligence operations. This birthed the culture of: rent-seeking, allocation instead of competition, godfatherism, centralised corruption, unaccountable “state capture.”
Nigeria’s “command economy” is a remnant of military thinking, not a product of civilian policy failure.
4. Soldiers in Uniform, Soldiers in Police Black:
The Militarisation of Internal Security:
One of the most dangerous legacies of military rule is the transformation of the police from a civilian service to a paramilitary force. Centralised, Armed, Feared. The Nigerian Police Force became federalised and distant from communities, trained in combat, not community policing, used primarily to suppress dissent, and feared rather than trusted. After the Civil War, internal security took on a war-like framework, and the police became an extension of the military, not an alternative to it.
Military in Civilian Duties.
The result is the Nigeria we know: Soldiers controlling checkpoints. Soldiers in elections. Soldiers in flood rescue. Soldiers in traffic control. Soldiers chasing kidnappers. Soldiers quelling protests. Nigeria is one of the few democracies where citizens encounter soldiers more often than social workers or emergency responders.
5. The Militarisation of Social Behaviour and Everyday Life.
Long before today’s political culture became aggressive and violent, military rule had already reshaped the psychology of Nigerians.
NYSC and School Militarism. The NYSC, created in 1973, incorporated:
• drills
• parades
• command language
• khaki discipline
Schools copied this model:
• morning parades
• marching
• “stand at attention!”
• punishment through physical drills
Generations grew up believing authority must be obeyed without question.
Force Became a Normal Language.
In family life, business dealings, market disputes, and community disagreements, Nigerians became conditioned to: shout to be heard, intimidate to win, fight to settle disputes, use threat where dialogue should suffice.
This mentality now drives: political thuggery,
street violence, campus cultism, aggressive driving, online hostility, ethnic militias, insurgencies like Boko Haram and militancy in the Niger Delta. When a society normalises force, violence becomes a default tool.
6. Politics as Warfare:
How Soldiers Taught Politicians to Fight, Not Govern.
Military coups taught politicians one dangerous lesson: power is seized, not earned. Zero-Sum Politics. Coups created: the culture of “winner takes all”, abrupt removal of leaders, leadership that answers to guns, not votes. Politicians internalised this mindset. Today, elections are battles, wars, and survival games.
Weaponisation of Elections.
Under military influence: 1983 elections collapsed into chaos. Babangida annulled June 12 in a military-style override, security agencies became tools for rigging, violence became normal during campaigns. This militarised election culture remains deeply entrenched.
7. Silencing Nigeria:
How Military Decrees Crushed Free Speech.
Nigeria’s media environment is still scarred by decrees like:
Decree 4 (1984)
Used to jail journalists like Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor for publishing information the regime considered “embarrassing.”
Decree 2 (1984)
Allowed detention without trial for months.
Newspapers were seized, shut down, burned, and intimidated. The military taught Nigerians to fear speaking truth to power. Even today, many citizens censor themselves subconsciously.
8. A Judiciary That Still Behaves Like It’s Under Decree.
Under military rule: Decrees overrode the constitution. Military tribunals superseded courts. Judges were bypassed. Retroactive punishment was introduced. Buhari’s regime executed drug offenders using retroactive laws, something unheard of in a constitutional democracy.
Legacy Today:
Police still ignore court orders. EFCC, DSS, Customs still behave like military appendages. Many Nigerians see courts as weak. Judges often rely on “authority” instead of rights. The rule of law remains fragile because it was never allowed to mature.
9. Militarisation of Ethnic Relations.
Military rule deepened ethnic tension through: the Civil War, state creation exercises, competition for control of the military hierarchy, north–south political balancing. Every ethnic group began to see federal appointments as “command posts” to be captured for group survival. Nigeria’s ethnic politics today is a direct continuation of military-style competition.
10. Militarised Leadership:
The “Oga Strongman” Syndrome.
Even civilian presidents and governors behave like military rulers: intolerance of criticism, reliance on security forces, heavy military presence around them, command-style governance, dismissal of dissenters. The cult of the “strongman leader”, a man who must be feared to be respected, is the greatest evidence that Nigeria is a democracy on paper and a military state in practice.
Conclusion:
The Military Left Power: But Military Logic Still Rules Nigeria.
Nigeria’s tragedy is not merely that soldiers once ruled, but that they changed our national DNA. They militarised: our institutions, our political behaviour, our economy, our security structure, our ethnic relations, our everyday life. The result is a society ruled by force, fear, and hierarchy.
We will not progress until we demilitarise Nigeria, consciously and systematically. Demilitarisation does not mean hating soldiers. It means restoring:
• civilian policing
• constitutional governance
• merit-based civil service
• independent institutions
• dialogue-based political culture
• respect for rights
• citizen courage to question power
Until then, Nigeria will continue to act like a barracks pretending to be a republic.
