Review of Public Administration and Management

The military foundation of most societies would be difficult to dispute. History books are often filled with people illustration of invasions and conquest of weak communities by powerful forces. The military as an institution existed even in pre-colonial times especially in those ancient kingdom of all such as the Benin Empire, the Oyo Kingdom, Dahomey Kingdom, Borno Empire, etc.

At this time, the military was primarily assigned the responsibility of defending the territorial integrity of these sates. Although, they were regularly consulted even on political matters, they had no direct control over the affairs of state. Essentially, they remained subordinated to the political authorities [1].

Even in ancient Rome, the military was not known to directly involved in governance until the point in time when the Roman Army “went beyond. Its brief to takeover power from the Roman senate and henceforth chose who the Emperor was going to be.

This abbreviation became known as PRAETORIANISM i.e. the direct intervention of the military in politics. Consequently, the military that was initially regarded as the protector of the Emperor or the praetorian guards suddenly took over power. From this moment onward military praetorians became associated with the overthrow of legitimate ‘and elected government [2].

Although, the military institution is an important institution in the society that could assist in the maintenance of stability through protection of the territorial integrity of the state concerned. The unusual happens when this institution chooses to abandon its traditional responsibility and then decides to embrace the option of taking over the state power. The issue therefore, is how we keep the military permanently in the barracks in order for it to perform its traditional role as well as disengage them from politics

This paper is structured into five parts. In section two, the conceptual clarification of the terms used in the write up was elucidated, Military intervention in politics was brought to light in Africa with particularly focus on Nigeria, the concept of democracy, democratization [3] and the military are critically examined and the fourth section deals with the imperative of enhancing,, an enduring and lasting civil — military relation in the fourth Republic and beyond. The conclusion is contained in the Fifth section.