The fourth republic, the orgy of violence and the plight of internally displaced persons in Nigeria, 1999-2009

Abstract

The twenty-ninth day of May 1999, marked the beginning of a more enduring democratic transition in the annals of democratic transitions in Nigeria. The earlier two democratic experiments of between 1960 and 1966, and between 1979 and 1983 suffered a political shipwreck as the military swept the two republics into oblivion. The Third Republic was stifled at the incubation stage, as it was not allowed to see the light of the day. This paper however examines the Nigeria’s Fourth Republic and argues that even though, it stands as a democracy with the longest life span in Nigeria, its attendant crises made it the worst type the country has ever experienced since the First Republic as thousands of people met their untimely death while scores of people were internally displaced with little or no government attention.