Criminal Politics: Violence, “Godfathers” and Corruption in Nigeria

Many Nigerians initially welcomed the military’s 1966 takeover, hoping it would bring
law and order along with more honest and effective government. 9 The military
retained power from 1966 until 1979 but this was not a period of stability or peace.
Ironsi was murdered in a successful coup after less than seven months in office by a
group of northern military officers. His death was followed by ethnic rioting across
Nigeria that helped precipitate Nigeria’s horrific Biafran civil war. 10
After the civil war ended in 1970, Nigeria’s ruling military continued to be wracked
with violent power struggles. Aside from Ironsi’s murder the country saw one other
head of state ousted in a coup and a third murdered in an attempted coup before the
discredited military returned power to civilian hands in 1979. 11 The head of state who
organized that transition was General Olusegun Obasanjo, who would return to
power as a civilian leader twenty years later, in 1999.
The civilian government under President Shehu Shagari that was elected to office in
1979 was in place for only four years. Shagari’s administration, which initially had
the blessing of Nigeria’s military establishment, was blamed for widespread
corruption at both the federal and state levels, deepening levels of poverty and
internecine political warfare that led ultimately to the electoral debacle of 1983. The
elections organized that year were massively rigged in favor of Shagari and his
National Party of Nigeria. The country’s Federal Election Commission and the security
forces were widely accused of actively colluding to rig the elections, and all parties
deployed hired thugs to intimidate their opponents across the country. A nationwide
9 See, e.g., Osaghe, Crippled Giant pp.54-55, noting that the military “carved for itself the role of saviour and guardian of the
nation, and has indeed been invited to play this role by vocal sections of the public during periods of serious national crisis.”
10 Ironsi, like the majors who staged the abortive coup that set the stage for his takeover of power, was an Igbo—and Nigeria’s
last Igbo head of state. Resistance to his rule in northern Nigeria grew rapidly, stoked by fears of Igbo domination and anger
at the murder of northern political scions Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa during the 1966 coup attempt. Northern
opposition to Ironsi’s policies led to ethnic riots in parts of northern Nigeria that saw tens of thousands of Igbo murdered; the
violence continued unabated after Ironsi was abducted and murdered by Northern military officers in a countercoup. Igbo
refugees streamed into southeastern Nigeria for safety and relations between military officials in the East and the federal
government quickly broke down. The ensuing Biafran civil war lasted from May 1967 to January 1970 and claimed more than
one million lives through violence, starvation, and disease. See, eg, Osaghe, Crippled Giant pp. 54-64.
11 Yakubu Gowon succeeded General Ironsi in power and led Nigeria through the Biafran civil war. Gowon was overthrown in
July 1975 and his successor, Murtala Mohammed, was murdered during a failed coup attempt in February 1976. Mohammed
was succeeded by his deputy at the time of his death, General Olusegun Obasanjo.
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