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Nigeria POLITICAL TRANSITIONS AND TRANSITION PLANNING
Political transition in Nigeria has been based not only
on
the military ruler's conviction that civil rule was
desirable but
also on the expectation of the people that, after the
military
performed its rescue operation, it should turn power over
to
civilians. Gowon and Buhari failed to meet this
expectation,
reducing their popular support and resulting in their
overthrows.
In accepting demilitarization as a necessary process,
political
transition has been on the agenda of every military
government
since Ironsi's, with the probable exception of that of
Buhari.
Ironsi set up a Constitution Review Committee, whose task
was
overtaken by the promulgation of the unitary decree; Gowon
designed a transition plan, which he later aborted; the
Muhammad/Obasanjo governments successfully executed a
transition
program and handed power over to civilians; and Babangida
in 1990
was implementing a transition program, designed to
culminate in
civilian rule in 1992.
Data as of June 1991
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