Why People Born Before 1, October 1960 Are Not Citizen Of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria By Birth

Nnamdi Azikiwe, Member, Constitutional Conferences. Image: Via Credo Library, UMASS, Amherst (1949)

BY MICHAEL ADENIYI

OPINION NIGERIA
The section 25 of our constitution talks about Citizenship and rights to become a leader in Nigeria. Here are the criteria to verify if you are a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by birth, Section 25 (a) Every person born in Nigeria after the date of independence (October 1, 1960), either of whose parents or any of whose grandparents belongs or belonged to a community indigenous to Nigeria; Provided that a person shall not become a citizen of Nigeria by virtue of this section if neither of his parents nor any of his grandparents was born in Nigeria. (b) Every person born outside Nigeria either of whose parents is a citizen of Nigeria.

The date of independence” means the 1st day of October 1960.

I enjoin you to read section 10 of the constitution, we can all skip section 10 of the constitution, let’s check through history. On January 1, 1914, Lord Frederick Lugard, the governor of both the Northern Nigeria Protectorate and the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, signed a document consolidating the two, thereby creating the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. Those born before 1960 are not citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeia by birth, they belong to a non existing country called Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.

Lurd Lugard did not even create the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), what he created was the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. Those born before 1960 are not citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeia by birth, they belong to a non existing country called Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, they all naturalized. Many people seems not to understand that the constitutional conference of 1953 was all about the set up of a New country. At the conference held between July and August in London. It was decided that ” Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria would now become a new and truly federal state with limited and specific powers allocated to the federal government and residual powers inhering in the regional governments.”

Here, Colony of Protectorate of Nigeria constitution changed after independence of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? The section 25 concerning citizenship was amended how many times? do we need to invalidate section 10 of the constitution at this time? Maybe.

Colonial era (1914–1960) constitutions were enacted by order in council during the colonial era, when the country was administered as a Crown Colony. Again, thew was enough stress on Colony of protectorate of Nigeria.

The federal Republic of Nigeria constitution was born at independence, Nigeria’s first constitution as a sovereign state was enacted by a British order in council so as to come into force immediately upon independence, on 1 October 1960. Under this constitution Nigeria retained Queen Elizabeth II as titular head of state.

This was a tensition period from Colony of Protectorate of Nigeria to Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Independent Federal Republic of Nigeria’s second constitution established the country as a federal republic. It came into force on 1 October 1963 (Nigeria’s third anniversary as an independent nation). The 1963 constitution, which was based on the Westminster system, continued in operation until a military coup in 1966. 1963 brought changes such as a redesigned map, a flag that represented Nigeria, coat of arm, Federal Republic of Nigeria stamp, and so on.