Nigerian Civil Society and Democratic Struggles under Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sanni Abacha: A Call for Renewed Commitment

Abstract

Nigeria has gone through an intense period of political transformation and reconstitution since independence. Central to the political transformation was the struggle to combat military authoritarianism which held the nation captive for about three decades. The period of military autocracy was mostly characterized by some phoney transition programmes most of which never saw the light of the day. However between 1989 and 1999, Nigerian civil society entered the political scene with unimaginable force and bravery, to demand an end to military authoritarianism and the enthronement of democracy. This paid off as the country was returned to democratic government in May 1999. But after the enthronement of democracy in 1999, civil society seems to have gone into recess. It is now devoid of vibrancy and coordination with which it fought for democracy, forgetting the fact that the task of securing new democracy is as demanding as initiating it. Hence, this paper aims at revisiting the tortuous, brave and determined struggle of civil society to enthrone democracy, with the intention of making it serve as a wake- up call to civil society to renew its vibrancy in order to defend and strengthen the nascent democracy which it laboured so much for.