Nigeria 1999
On May 5, 1999, the military leadership of Nigeria promulgated Decree No 24 of 1999 as the constitutional basis for a return to civilian rule. The process began in 1998, when the military regime (which had taken power by coup under General Abacha in 1993) responded to continued local and international pressure (including threats of tightened sanctions) by promising to introduce economic liberalization and political reform. Elections for a National Assembly were held on April 25th and the political parties then selected Abacha as the sole candidate for an upcoming presidential election. The leader died on June 8th, however, and his chief of staff, General Abubakar was appointed the next day. Abubakar immediately released major political prisoners, dissolved the existing electoral commission and political parties, and declared the previous elections of local leaders to be void. He invited applications for new political parties and provisionally approved 9 of the 26 proposals received.
On September 7, General Abubakar announced his intention to transition toward civilian rule by revisiting a draft constitution developed in 1995. The ruling council appointed 25 experts (academics, lawyers, and retired officers) to a Constitutional Debate Coordinating Committee to take recommendations for revising the 1995 document. The committee began work on November 11 and the draft in question was published in major newspapers two days later. Public hearings were organized in 10 cities, to take opinions from 10 specially created zones. Several workshops were held, and over 405 memoranda were received in a period of less than 2 months. Respondents objected that the conference that drafted this document was unrepresentative, since voting for the 273 elected members had been marred by boycotts and cynicism to include only 400,000 voters. The committee concluded that the document lacked credibility as a means to introduce democratic reforms. Their report, submitted to government on December 30th, recommended a reversion to the 1979 constitution (with minor amendments).
The ruling council continued to focus on the 1995 constitution, however, and delivered these on February 2nd, to the Federal Ministry of Justice who was to complete the draft. Meanwhile, elections were held to appoint leaders to the 774 local government councils (on December 5th), members of the National Assembly (on February 20), and a new president, (on February 27th). For president, 62.8% of the estimated 40 million voted for General Obasanjo, who had presided during the development of the 1979 election. The new officials were to take power at the end of May, when the new constitution would come into force. On March 20th, the Ministry of Justice delivered its draft of the constitution back to the ruling council, but the official document was not released. Five versions of the 1995 constitution were circulating, and there was considerable confusion as to which draft was under consideration by the ruling council. The council announced in early April that the final version would not be released until its last day in power, May 28, 1999. On May 5th, the leaders issued a decree that reinstated the constitution of 1979 with “some amendments” but did not identify what these might be. The final document integrated some provisions from the 1989 constitution and provided immunity for the military leadership against prosecution for actions while running the country. The new constitution entered into force on May 31, 1999.
Many claims of corruption surrounded the elections, despite the involvement of over 2000 foreign observers. There were several protests and some became quite violent. The death (in custody) on July 7th , for example, of a political prisoner who was expected to win the next election resulted in riots in which 19 people were killed. Many political leaders complained about the process, citing the failure to clarify which draft was being considered, what the amendments would be, and for failing to allow adequate time for public comment. Some also protested the decision to hold elections prior to putting the new constitution in place.