The Role of State Constitutions in Protecting ... - International IDEA

making of the Lyttleton Constitution of 1954, minority groups in Nigeria
expressed fears of discrimination, marginalization and oppression. This led
to the setting up of the Willinck Commission on 26 September 1957. The
Commission recommended the entrenchment of fundamental human
rights in the Constitution. This recommendation was accepted and
fundamental human rights provisions have formed part of Nigeria
Constitution from the Independence Constitution of 1960 to date.
◆ Adoption of Multi-party system: It was reasoned that a multi-party
system would give the ethnic minorities an opportunity to protect their
interest.
◆ Modification of Electoral system: As from the Second Republic, to
become a president of Nigeria, a successful candidate is not only required
to obtain a majority of votes cast but must also obtain not less than onequarter
of the votes cast in the election in each of at least two-thirds of all
the States of the Federation. This was provided for in Sections 125–126 of
the 1979 Constitution and replicated in sections 130–132 of the 1989
Constitution and sections 131–134 of the 1999 Constitution.
◆ Constitutional prohibition of Ethnic and Religious parties: In the
first Republic, the major political parties were of ethnic origin. 37 It has been
argued that the ethnic orientations of the political parties were among the
main reasons for the collapse of the republic. 38 In order to address this
pitfall, the 1979 Constitution of the Second Republic prohibited the formation
of political parties with ethnic or religious connotation. Section 202
of the constitution provides that “No association by whatever name called
shall function as a political party unlessa)
The names and addresses of its national officers are registered with
the Federal Electoral Commission;
b) The membership of the association is open to every citizen of Nigeria
irrespective of his place of origin, sex, religion or ethnic grouping;
c) A copy of the constitution is registered in the principal office of the
Commission in such a form as may be prescribed by the commission;
d) Any alteration in its registered constitution is also registered in the
principal office of the Commission within 30 days of the making of
such alteration;
e) The name of the association, its emblem or motto does not contain
any ethnic or religious connotation or give the appearance that the
activities of the association are confined to a part only of the
geographical area of Nigeria; and
f) The headquarters of the association is situated in the capital of the
federation.
This provision was repeated in Section 220 of the 1989 Constitution and section
221 of the 1999 Constitution.
37) The Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) emerged from a Northern based cultural group known as Jam’iyyar Mutanen
Arewa with the support of Hausa-Fulani while the Yoruba cultural organization Egbe Omo Oduduwa metamorphosed
into the Action group with its base in Western Nigeria. The National Convention of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) had its
base within the core of Igboland in Eastern Nigeria. Other smaller parties like Northern Elements Progressive Union
(NEPU), United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) and Niger delta Congress had their ethnic support from the Hausa/Fulani
peasants, Tiv and Ijaw/Kalabari respectively.
38) Abubakar, D (1997), “The Rise and Fall of the First and Second Republics of Nigeria”, in Okafor, F. U.(1997) (Ed), New
Strategies for Curbing Ethnic and Religious conflicts in Nigeria, Enugu, fourth Dimension Publishers
50