The Second Nigerian Republic was a brief formation of the Nigerian state which succeeded the military governments formed after the overthrow of the first republic.
The Second Nigerian Republic was a brief formation of the Nigerian state which succeeded the military governments formed after the overthrow of the first republic.
The military dictatorship in Nigeria was a period when members of the Nigerian Armed Forces held power in Nigeria from 1966 to 1999 with an interregnum from 1979 to 1983. The military was able to rise to power often with the tacit support of the elite through coup d'états. Since the country became a republic in 1963, there had been a series of military coups.
The president of Nigeria, officially the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is the head of state and head of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The president directs the executive branch of the Federal Government and is the commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
The offices, powers, and titles of the head of state and the head of government were officially merged into the office of the presidency under the 1979 Constitution of Nigeria.
Since Nigeria became independent in 1960, there have been five military coups. Between 1966 and 1999, Nigeria was ruled by a military government without interruption, apart from a short-lived return to democracy under the Second Republic of 1979 to 1983. However, the most recent coup occurred in 1993, and there have been no significant further attempts under the Fourth Republic, which restored multi-party democracy in 1999.
The Supreme Military Council was the body that ruled Nigeria after the 1966 coup d'état until it was dissolved following the 1979 parliamentary election and the Second Nigerian Republic. The Supreme Military Council was located at Dodan Barracks as the Supreme Military Headquarters (SMHQ) in Lagos.
According to a Constitutional Decree, published in Lagos on 17 March 1967, legislative and executive power was vested in the Supreme Military Council. The chairman of the council was the head of the Military Government.