CHALLENGES OF NIGERIA’S DEMOCRATIC SUSTENANCE:

INTERROGATING THE NATIONAL SECURITY AND LEGITIMACY QUESTION

Abstract

National security and legitimacy are essential issues of governance that no nation desirous of political, economic and democratic stability can afford to take with levity. Thus, when countries begin to struggle in these critical areas of governance, her democracy becomes threatened. Nigeria’s national security, legitimacy and democratic sustenance are not exempted from a number of challenges, threatening her in the Fourth Republic. Hence, the paper is an interrogation into the challenges of national security, legitimacy and democratic sustenance. The paper adopted desk research method to gather secondary materials that were contently analyzed and the failed states theory was used as the explanatory framework of the research. The paper identified inherited colonial security orientation, Boko Haram insurgency, herdsmen clashes, banditry, ethnicity, separatist agitations, underdevelopment and electoral malpractices as the core challenges of Nigeria’s democratic sustainability. It recommends a review of the entire national security apparatus, citizen’s welfare through good governance, and public enlightenments to strengthen supports for democratic institutions in Nigeria.