NIGERIA’S 2025 FOILED COUP: A LEEWAY TO RESURRECT DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA.

Abstract

The recent foiled coup attempt in Nigeria, though publicly denounced as a treasonable offense, reveals the underlying cynicism with the country’s democratic practice. This article argues that while coups are inherently anti-democratic, their recurrence in a nominally democratic system reflects a profound crisis of correctness and governance. Drawing on the political economy of Nigeria’s postcolonial state, the article examines the socioeconomic and institutional factors that have gouged the substance of democracy and alienated citizens from the state. It contends that the coup’s failure should not end the discussion but open a new one, one that confronts the structural distortions of Nigeria’s democratic order and seeks pathways to its resurrection through institutional reform, economic justice, leadership performance and civic reawakening.