Joshua Wakanga2024-10-112024-10-112024-09-05https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12311/1821Military coups have been a regular fixture in the politics and governance of many developing examples with a significant example being the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nigeria has been purview to eight significant coup attempts with six successful ones and two failed ones since its independence in 1960 (Akinola, 2018; Omotola, 2011). This research sought to explore the successful and failed military coups in Nigeria with a key focus on identifying the key factors that decide either outcome to understand the challenges of consolidating democracy in Nigeria and the African continent in general (Nwokoma, 2021; Onapajo, 2014). It also explored the different actions taken by the incumbent and successive governments in their bids to avert the possibility of the outbreak of further military. The research also sought to analyse the different factors that contributed to the outbreak of coups in Nigeria with ethnicity and mal-administration the common denominators in the different coup attempts that Nigeria has experienced. Realism is the bed-rock of this research study explaining how the quest for power is responsible for the outbreak of coups in Nigeria. This research is structured as follows: Chapter One that provides a detailed foundation of the study detailing the objectives, background etc. Chapter Two thereafter provides a literature review of the existing academic literature on military coups exploring the different causes of coups and highlighting the crucial determinants that separate a successful coup from a failed one in Nigeria (Decalo, 1990; Londregan & Poole, 1990). Chapter 3 contains the methodology of the methods the different methods of data collection analysis (Collier & Levitsky, 1997; Huntington, 1968). Chapter 4 presents the findings after exploring the occurrence of military coups spotlighting key factors that determine the outcome of the coup attempts in Nigeria (Adeagbo, 2021; Danjibo & Oladeji, 2007). The final one is Chapter 5 which presents the different conclusions and recommendations after the analysis of the data (Adejumobi, 2000; Agbese, 2004).en