|
Nigeria The Second Republic
In the program of transition to the Second Republic,
the
military leaders' primary concern was to prevent the
recurrence
of the mistakes of the First Republic. They believed that
if the
structures and processes of government and politics that
had
proved inappropriate in the First Republic could be
changed, a
stable and effective civilian government would emerge. The
transition was therefore designed to address those
fundamental
issues, which were historically divisive, and to establish
new
political institutions, processes, and orientations.
Except for
the census, which remained problematic, most issues that
threatened the stability and survival of the federation
were
addressed. The revenue allocation process was altered
based on
the recommendation of a technical committee, despite the
politicians' rejection of its recommendation. Local
governments
were also streamlined and made more powerful by the 1976
reforms.
The second aspect of the transition involved the making
of a
new constitution and appropriate institutions. A
Constitution
Drafting Committee (CDC) was appointed in 1975 under the
chairmanship of a leading lawyer, Rotimi Williams, and, in
1977,
a Constituent Assembly (CA) composed of both elected and
appointed officials examined and ratified the draft
constitution.
After final ratification by the SMC, the Constitution was
promulgated in 1979. Political parties were formed, and
new
corrective national bodies, such as the Code of Conduct
Bureau,
Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, and Public
Complaints
Commission, were established. The most far-reaching
changes of
the transition were made in the area of institutionalizing
a new
constitutional and political system.
At the inauguration of the CDC, Murtala Muhammad
outlined the
objectives of transition as the continuation of a federal
system
of government with constitutional law guaranteeing
fundamental
human rights, maximum participation, and orderly
succession to
political power. To avoid the pitfalls of the First
Republic, the
new constitution was designed to eliminate political
competition
based on a system of winner-takes-all, broaden consensus
politics
to a national base, eliminate overcentralization of power,
and
ensure free and fair elections. The SMC suggested that
these
objectives could be met by recognition of national rather
than
sectional parties, controls on the proliferation of
parties and
on the creation of more states, and an executive
presidential
system similar to that in the United States. In addition,
the
federal character of the country was to be reflected in
the
cabinet; an independent judiciary was to be established as
well
as corrective institutions.
The draft constitution incorporated these elements.
When the
CA met to ratify the constitution, a few issues were
highly
volatile. The most notable was the matter of sharia law,
which
Muslims argued should be given appellate jurisdiction at
the
federal level. Most Christian members of the assembly
vehemently
opposed this. Only the intervention of the head of state
resolved
the situation. Although the sharia clause was deleted from
the
constitution, the cleavage between Christian and Muslim
groups
persisted. Other controversial issues included the
creation of
more states, the determination of an age limit for
participation
in politics (intended to eliminate most discredited
politicians
who had actively participated in politics in the First
Republic),
and the scope of the executive president's powers. After
the CA
completed its work, the SMC added a few amendments,
including use
of Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba as additional official
languages in
the National Assembly and applying the federal-character
principle to the composition of the armed forces' officer
corps.
By Decree Number 25 of 1978, the 1979 constitution was
enacted. The constitution differed from that of the First
Republic in 1963 in that it introduced a United
States-type
presidential system in place of the parliamentary system.
Previously, the executive branch of government derived its
powers
from the legislature. Under the 1979 constitution, the
president
and vice president, as well as state governors and their
deputies, were elected in separate elections. The
elections had
the federation and the state, respectively, as
constituencies.
Furthermore, while the Senate was largely a ceremonial
body in
the First Republic, the new constitution gave the Senate
and
House of Representatives coequal powers.
There were other provisions in the 1979 constitution
that
aimed at eliminating past loopholes. The first was the
federal-
character principle, which sought to prevent the
domination of
power by one or a few states, ethnic groups, or sections
at the
federal center, and by one or more groups in the states
and local
government areas. The principle required that the
composition of
the cabinet, boards, and other executive bodies, as well
as
appointments to top government positions, should reflect
the
federal character or diversity of the country at the
particular
level of government. This principle also applied to the
composition of the armed forces. The principle was
extended to
the distribution of national resources, such as the siting
of
schools and industries.
The question of party politics became a constitutional
matter. In view of the need for a limited number of
national
political parties, the constitution specified certain
criteria
that parties had to meet in order to be registered: the
name,
emblem, or motto of the party could not contain any ethnic
or
religious connotation or give the party the image of a
sectional
party; membership in the party should be open to all
Nigerians
irrespective of ethnic or religious affiliation; the party
headquarters must be in the federal capital; and the
executive
committee of the party should reflect the federal
character of
the country. The task of registering political parties and
conducting elections was given to the Federal Electoral
Commission (FEDECO). The necessity for national parties
resulted
from the conviction that the disunity of the First
Republic was
engendered by the regional parties then operating. When
the ban
placed on political activities in 1966 was lifted in
September
1978, at least fifty-three political associations were
formed.
Seventeen of them applied for registration, but only five
were
registered: the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), the
Nigerian
People's Party (NPP), the United Party of Nigeria (UPN),
the
Great Nigeria People's Party (GNPP), and the People's
Redemption
Party (PRP). In 1981 a sixth party, the Nigeria Advance
Party
(NAP), was registered.
Contrary to the expectations of the drafters of the
constitution and the military rulers, most of these
parties
resembled the ethnoregional ones of the pre-1966 period
although
legally parties were required to transcend ethnoregional
bases.
The only exceptions were the NAP, which proclaimed itself
a "new
breed" party, and the NPN, which despite its regional
antecedents, was probably the only national party in
Nigeria. The
UPN was a resurrection of the AG with its Yoruba core; the
NPP
was a rejuvenation of the NCNC with its Igbo core and
strands of
middle-belt support; the PRP recalled Kano's NEPU; and the
GNPP,
which appeared initially to be a new minorities formation,
had
its strength within the Kanuri section of the north. Apart
from
the PRP, which flickered as a radical party, and the
populist
NAP, the other parties appeared to be parties of the
wealthy
class or those who aspired to join it, for whom politics
was a
means of enriching themselves and consolidating their
material
base. Given this character of the registered parties, it
can be
argued that the perceived need to balance the power groups
in the
country rather than the constitutional requirements
decided which
parties were registered.
In the 1979 presidential election, NPN candidate Shehu
Shagari was declared the winner, even though many people
thought
he did not meet the full requirements. He obtained a
simple
majority of the total votes cast in the federation but
failed to
get 25 percent of the total votes cast in thirteen states
of the
federation. The latter was the generally accepted
interpretation
of the constitutional requirement that the winner of the
presidential election should obtain 25 percent of the
total votes
cast in two-thirds of the nineteen states of the
federation.
Shagari obtained 25 percent of the votes in twelve states
but got
only 19 percent in the thirteenth state. When FEDECO
declared
Shagari the winner "in the absence of any legal
explanation or
guidance in the electoral decree," Awolowo, the
presidential
candidate and leader of the UPN, led other defeated
candidates
and their parties to challenge the declaration in the
electoral
tribunal and later in the Supreme Court. But the challenge
was to
no avail. The controversy led to strong anti-NPN,
anti-Shagari
sentiments in several states controlled by the other
parties.
Once the NPN succeeded in consolidating power at the
center, the
attraction it held was strong enough to tear the other
parties
asunder. Consequently, the history of the Second Republic
is
replete with interparty and intraparty schisms and
federal-state
conflicts.
At the domestic level, the NPN-controlled federal
government
embarked on politically expedient but uneconomic projects,
such
as establishing a federal university in every state,
commissioning iron and steel plants that remain unfinished
in
1990, and indiscriminately awarding contracts to build the
new
federal capital at Abuja. To finance these projects, the
government relied heavily on foreign loans and aid. While
the
external debt of the country increased, the lot of the
common
citizen worsened. The global economic recession in the
early
1980s and the collapse of crude oil prices in the world
market
accelerated the economic decline of the Second Republic
(see Oil and Gas
, ch. 3). By the time Shagari decided to initiate
IMF-inspired austerity measures under the Economic
Stabilization
Act (1982), the problems of the economy required more
drastic
measures. This act, however, provided the blueprint for
the
austerity measures subsequently introduced by Buhari and
by
Babangida.
The demise of the Second Republic was accelerated by
the
tension generated by the 1983 general elections, which
were
similar to those of 1964-65. As in the earlier elections,
two
major political camps were involved in the contest: the
NPN and
the Progressive Parties Alliance, comprising the UPN, the
NPP,
and factions of the PRP and the GNPP. The NPN won
landslide
victories even in states considered traditional
strongholds of
the other parties. In several places, violence erupted,
and every
election was contested in court. A number of the electoral
verdicts were rescinded in view of evidence that results
were
falsified. Under these circumstances the military
intervened in
December 1983
(see The Buhari Regime;
The Babangida Government
, this ch.).
Data as of June 1991
|
