A REVIEW OF THE SECULARIY OF THE NIGERIAN
CONSTITUTION
By James Pam
The
1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is ambivalent in its
provisions and pronouncements regarding the practice of religion in the
country. It is surprising that sections of the populace who have been maligned
by these constitutional ambiguities have lived with them for so long. The
result of the inaction of these adversely affected citizens is the religious
wars that Nigeria continues to experience with escalating ferocity.
The
Nigerian military Government that gave us the 1999 Constitution currently in
use via Military Decree No. 24 on 5th May, 1999 wrote on its page 19
that, “We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria … having firmly and
solemnly resolved … do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves the following Constitution.” Nothing could be
further from the truth because the people of Nigeria were not consulted via the
conventional process of a national referendum.
For
a definition and understanding of what secularism means, we shall rely on the definition
and opinions expressed in a seminal paper by Dr. Godwin N. Okeke and published
in the International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, Volume
2, Issue 3 of March 2013 (pages 65 – 69) titled, The Ambivalence of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution in Matters Relating
to Secularism: a Case for a Constitutional Review. He defined secularism as
a system of social organization or that does not allow religion to influence
the government. It is the belief that religion should not influence the
government. He explains further that a secular state is therefore a state or
country that purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion,
supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state also claims to
treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and claims to avoid
preferential treatment for a citizen of a particular religion/non-religion over
other religions/non-religion. Although secular states do not have a state
religion or equivalent, the absence of a state religion does not guarantee that
a state is secular. He opines that secularism is commonly regarded as an
ideology that holds that religious issues should not be the basis of politics,
or, in the extreme, that religion has no place in public life. Secularism,
therefore, seeks to preserve the religious neutrality of government and cultures.
Nigeria’s
1999 Constitution provided for religion and secularity at the same time in four
sections. These are: (1) Section 10, which attempts to establish the secularity
of the Nigerian state by providing that, “The Government of the Federation or of
a State shall not adopt any religion as State religion.” (2) Section 38, which
re-enforces the rights of Nigerians to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion in its 4 sub-sections. (3) Sections 275 and 280, which make a
volt-face and contradict the two earlier quoted Sections. Section 275 provides
for the creation of States Sharia Courts of Appeal while Section 280 provides
for the creation of States Customary Courts of Appeal.
First,
the provisions found in Sections 10 and 38 are completely negated and rendered
void by the provisions found in Sections of 275 and 280. Second, the adherents
of other religions apart from Islam have been relegated to an inferior status
and discriminated against by the provisions in Section 275 because their religions
have not been given equal recognition by the same Constitution. Third, while
these provisions recognize the important place of religion in our national
life, they pretend that we can operate some modicum of secularism and not
pluralism.
The
matter of secularism or non-secularism of the current Nigeria Constitution came
to a head at the just-concluded National Conference 2014 when two delegates
representing the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop of Kafanchan
Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, Joseph Bagobiri, representing the Northern
Central Zone, and Pastor Bosun Emmanuel, representing the South West Zone,
brought up what they described as the unfair treatment of Christians and
Christianity in the country. They submitted at a plenary session that the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was skewed in favor of Islam
and Muslims and called on delegates to correct this anomaly.
Pastor
Bosun Emmanuel submitted that the 1999 Constitution mentions ‘Shariah’ 73
times, ‘Grand Khadi’ 54 times, ‘Islam’ 28 times and ‘Muslims’ 10 times but does
not mention the words ‘Christ’, ‘Christian’, ‘Christianity’ or ‘church’ even
once. He concluded his submission very politely by saying, “Some mischievous
elements are taking these lapses in the Constitution to come to the ungodly
decision that probably the State is an Islamic State.” The submissions of the
two Christian delegates angered their Muslim counterparts who tried to shout
them down.
Pastor
Bosun Emmanuel has elucidated his message further in other fora where he opines
that the major flaw in our 1999 Constitution is its “dual ideology” because it
is ambivalent in its religious provisions. He explains that while the
compendium tries to guarantee freedom of choice of religion to all Nigerians in
one breath, it promotes one religion in another. Also, while the same Constitution debars the
Federal and State Governments from adopting a state religion, it violates this itself
by recognizing one religion above all others.
In
our national life today, 12 out of the 36 States of Nigeria have blatantly
violated the clear provisions of Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution which
states that, “The Government of the Federation or of a State shall not adopt
any religion as State religion”. These 12 States have each adopted one religion
as State religion via State law. Zamfara State led in this impunity in in 2005 and
11 other States have since towed the same path.
It
is no wonder that the constitutionally favored citizens of Nigeria abhor the
idea of replacing the 1999 Constitution. It is also no wonder that the makers
of that Constitution made the process of constitutional amendment very
cumbersome. National Conference delegates who protested against one of the final
Conference document titled, 2014 Draft
Constitution, must be among the constitutionally favored few in the country.
Surprisingly, the mere change of name of this same document appeased them.
The
2014 National Conference recommended 395 amendments to the 1999 Constitution. What
would become of this Constitution after all these amendments might have been
implemented? A new constitution would have been introduced by whatever name we
care to call it. The opponents of a new constitution for the country seem to be
overly jittery at such prospects for reasons best known to them. The delegates
who held a press conference to declare their support for this final Conference
document titled, 2014 Draft Constitution,
and the Conference leadership who drafted it had no qualms whatsoever with the
document or its title.
It
must be obvious to readers at this point that the Nigerian 1999 Constitution is
fundamentally flawed in the treatment of Nigerian citizens and must be
thoroughly reviewed because it cannot be sustained much longer. If such a
review would, of necessity, mean amending substantial portions of it (up to 80%)
then the country is due for a new constitution by popular demand. The Nigerian
1999 Constitution is anything but secular.
Nigeria’s
religious is ‘political religion’ in the main. That is, the huge obsession by
religion by Nigerians is basically for political reasons. Nigerians foist
religion to the fore in governance, politics, economics, social debate and in virtually
every other facet of national life just so that adherents of their own
religions gets whatever there is to gain – seats/participation in government,
land, money, higher offices, first position, etc, and not for spiritual growth,
economic development or justice. Political religion is all about one religion
cheating other religions.
The
teachings and tenets of the country’s various religions do not seem to mean a
thing to their adherents. Religion has not improved the morals of most
politicians nor even the clergy. The various clergy and their politician
compatriots enjoy a cozy relationship. The 2002 Pew Global Attitudes Project
scored Nigeria 92% (second only to Indonesia) in importance of religion to the
people. In the same year Transparency International scored us one of the most
corrupt nations on earth. Probably the most emotive and potentially explosive
issue in Nigeria today is our constitutional religious imbalance. Let those
concerned address the problem quickly.
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