The Armed Forces of the Federation

The Nigerian Army's line of descent begins in 1863 when Lieutenant John Hawley Glover, then Acting Governor of Lagos, raised a constabulary of about eighteen freed slaves of Hausa origin — Glover's Hausas — at Lagos. The unit folded into the Lagos Constabulary, then George Goldie's Royal Niger Constabulary, and on 1 January 1900 — at the proclamation of the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria — into the West African Frontier Force, renamed the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF) in 1928.

The Nigeria Regiment of the RWAFF fought in the Cameroons campaign of 1914–16, in the East African campaign against Lettow-Vorbeck (1916–18), and as part of the 81st and 82nd West African Divisions in the Burma theatre of the Second World War. By 1945 some 100,000 Nigerians had served. Demobilisation returned a generation of trained NCOs to civilian life — and to the early nationalist movements that would, two decades later, hand them the Republic.

The force was renamed the Nigerian Military Forces in 1956 under the Defence Force Act 1955. The first Nigerian commissioned officer, Lt Louis Victor Ugboma, had been gazetted in 1948; by 1960 there were only 81 Nigerian commissioned officers in a 7,500-man force. The British General Officer Commanding, Major-General Norman Foster, handed over to Major-General Aguiyi-Ironsi — the first Nigerian GOC — in February 1965. The Anglo-Nigerian Defence Pact of 1960, which permitted British overflight and basing rights, was repudiated in January 1962 after student protests led by the National Union of Nigerian Students.

The Army has governed Nigeria for roughly 29 of its 65 post-Independence years. The six successful coups (15 January 1966, July 1966, July 1975, 31 December 1983, 27 August 1985, 17 November 1993) and the failed Dimka coup (13 February 1976), Vatsa plot (1985), Orkar coup (22 April 1990) and the disputed Diya plot (1997) are catalogued in the Timeline; the Civil War of 1967–70 is the founding wound of the modern Nigerian state.

The return to civilian rule on 29 May 1999 was negotiated by General Abdulsalami Abubakar's transition; the 1999 Constitution's §217–220 — the armed forces and command provisions — were drafted by a committee chaired by Justice Niki Tobi expressly to constitutionalise civilian supremacy and to prevent a return to barracks rule.

UN ONUC, Congo (1960–64) · UNIFIL Lebanon (1978–present, intermittent) · OAU Chad (1979, 1981–82) · ECOMOG Liberia (1990–97) · ECOMOG Sierra Leone (1997–2000) · ECOMIB Guinea-Bissau (1998–99, 2012–20) · UNAMID Sudan (2007–20) · MINUSMA Mali (2013–23) · MNJTF Lake Chad with Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin (2015–present).