Written by Bayo Olupohunda

By 2015, Nigeria would have had 16 uninterrupted years of democracy. In our 54 years of Independence, the Fourth Republic has turned out to be the longest period of civilian rule without military intervention. The First Republic, which ended in acrimony, triggered the first violent coup that almost wiped out an entire generation of Nigerian leaders. The Second Republic lasted only four years and three months.

The Second Republic, headed by former President Shehu Shagari, has been adjudged as one of the most profligate in Nigeria’s history. After the collapse of the two republics, the military regimes of Ibrahim Babangida and the late Sani Abacha began a transition process that was to usher in democracy. Both attempts almost pushed Nigeria to the brink of disintegration as the two leaders schemed to perpetuate themselves in power.

Both the Babangida and Abacha years are still regarded as the darkest periods in Nigerian history. The brutality of the military era was unprecedented. That the Fourth Republic has endured – good or bad – is a testimony that Nigerians are sworn never to return to the years when Nigeria became a Pariah state under military dictatorship. Today, our country is still living the consequences of military incursion into governance.

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