Military Interventions in the Nigerian Politics: ‘A Timed Bomb’ Waiting to Explode? The Avowal of a New Management Elites
Olusoji George, Seyi Shadare, Oluwakemi Owoyemi

Abstract
Nigeria became an independent country in October 1st 1960 after about a century occupation by the British colonial masters. Unfortunately the military struck in January 16 1966 and ruled the country for over 30 years. Nigeria has therefore been governed for a longer period (over thirty years) of her independence by the military. It is also interesting to note that the first colonial Governor –General, Lord Lugard was a British soldier; he amalgamated the Lagos Colony, the Northern Protectorate and the Southern Protectorate together to become what his wife named Nigeria. The various controversial military interventions might be undesirable, but it was not unexpected; it might have done some harm, yet it recorded some successes. This paper aims at examining why the interventions were expected and argue that it was not a total failure and disaster as most political and historical scholars had painted. This paper relying mainly on secondary sources examines the remote and the immediate causes as well as the aftermath of the military intervention. The paper concludes that the military interventions were not entirely ‘wasted years’, but ‘created’ some ‘new management elites’ who contributed a lot to the economic, social and political developments of the country.

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