ABSTRACT
Military rule changed the structure of government in Nigeria. Parties were outlawed, appointed office-holders were dismissed, and legislative bodies were suspended. Decisions concerning the allocation of the nation’s resources were now largely in the hands of military officers and civil servants, and thus the potential for developing power through patronage grew for military and bureaucratic officials while it diminished for civilian leaders. In spite of these revolutionary changes, the same people who came to power in Mushin as leaders of its party machine retained their positions of pre-eminence in the community’s political system.
