Nigeria's crisis: A flawed constitution, not just flawed governance, say critics

A group of Nigerian intellectuals has responded to a recent statement by "Concerned Citizens," a prominent group of Northern Nigerians, acknowledging their diagnosis of the nation's problems but fundamentally disagreeing with their proposed solutions.

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The Concerned Citizens have performed an important service by drawing attention to Nigeria’s deteriorating condition. Their diagnosis identifies many real problems. But their recommendations remain trapped within the framework that produced those problems.

The "Concerned Citizens," whose statement was issued on June 8, 2026, and signed by figures including Dr. Husseini Abdu, Ambassador Fatima Balla, and Professor Ibrahim Gambari, highlighted Nigeria's declining democratic accountability, institutional weakness, and growing threats to the separation of powers. They also situated these challenges within the broader crisis affecting the Sahel region, including terrorism and the weakening of state authority.

While the responding intellectuals, including Dr. Husseini Abdu and Professor Ibrahim Gambari, agree with the diagnosis of Nigeria's deteriorating condition, they argue that the proposed remedies are trapped within the same framework that created the problems. Their core disagreement lies in the belief that Nigeria's crisis stems not from a threat to its constitutional foundations, but from the fact that these foundations were never properly established.

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Nigeria’s problem is not that its constitutional foundations are under threat. Nigeria’s problem is that those foundations were never properly laid in the first place.

They contend that the 1999 Constitution, promulgated by military decree without meaningful public debate or adoption, is fundamentally flawed. The phrase "We the People" is seen as a contradiction, as the populace had no role in its creation. This unresolved question of constitutional legitimacy, they argue, is at the heart of Nigeria's crisis, making selective condemnation of unconstitutional changes elsewhere hypocritical.

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The 1999 Constitution was neither debated nor democratically adopted by the peoples of Nigeria. It was promulgated by military decree and presented as a Constitution made in the name of citizens who had no meaningful role in its creation.

The response indicates that the issue is not merely one of governance but of political foundation. The recommendations from the "Concerned Citizens" are categorized into two broad areas, but the authors of this response believe these recommendations fail to address the root cause: the illegitimate basis of the Nigerian state itself.

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Its famous opening phrase: “We the People” remains its greatest contradiction. The people did not make it. The people did not approve it. The people did not ratify it.