Resurgence of Military Rule in Africa: A Threat to Democratic Consolidation and Sustainable Development in Nigeria

There have been coups in some West African countries in recent times, from 2020 precisely. This posed a great threat to democratic consolidation and sustainable development of not only the countries but to the entire African continent. It seems democracy has failed as a form of government; hence the only alternative is military government. Data for this paper were gathered through secondary sources, and content analysis was used to analyze the data. The paper was anchored on institutional theory as its theoretical framework. The paper examined the factors leading to military intervention. The impact of military rule on these countries and Africa continent in general were discussed. The role of regional organizations, namely, ECOWAS and the African Union, in curbing the ugly development highlighted. It was discovered that over the years democracy has failed to produce democratic dividends. Democracy has encouraged ethnicity, corruption, godfatherism, nepotism, neocolonialism and imperialism through democratically elected puppets. Democracy has produced poverty, dependency, weak institutions and bad governance. Consequently, the paper made the following recommendations on how to curb this ugly menace, which include civic education and sensitization, institutional reforms, strong working democratic institutions, constitutional reforms, attitudinal change, transparency and accountability, to mention but few.