The author here examines the role of African armies as self- appointed redemptive and democratising forces. He analyses the armies' disregard for democratic principles, the lessons for Nigeria from the 1970s, and at the possibility of a truly democratic Nigeria. The eight chapters are: Periscoping the Transfer Process; Re-Civilianisation and Military Re-entry; Military Disengagement: the West African Experience; Echoes from the 1979 Transition Experiment; the Path to 1992- the Repetition of History; Negotiated Withdrawal; Intra-Elitist Cleavages and the Struggle for Political Power: a Game of Revolving Doors; and On What is to be Done.