Nigeria 1978
In 1978, the military regime in control of Nigeria promulgated a new constitution to allow the country to come under democratic governance. The constitution was drafted to confer legitimacy and stability to a federal government that had seen a strong secessionist movement, and a series of coups since independence. Chief of State General Murtala Muhammed (who had led a bloodless coup against another in July 1975) initiated the process in October 1975, shortly after coming to power. The military leadership appointed a constitutional drafting committee of 50 experts (primarily academics and lawyers) to produce initial text for the new constitution. One appointee refused to serve, and the remaining 49-member committee was convened for its first meeting on October 18, 1975. Although the military government provided the committee with some explicit recommendations, the committee pursued an ad hoc, open-ended review of constitutional forms, taking the models of United States, Pakistan, India, and Francophone African states into consideration. Six subcommittees developed recommendations, which were considered and amended by the full committee. The committee invited memoranda from the public and received over 350 (written) responses over a period of 5 and a half months. All but 2 members of the committee supported the resulting draft, which was submitted with a lengthy report to a new chief of state (Muhammed was killed in a failed coup attempt in February) on September 14, 1976. The report was published and was subject to much debate (particularly in universities and the media), over the course of the following year.
On August 31, 1977, the ruling council created a Constitutional Assembly to consider the report. The assembly was comprised of 230 members, 20 of whom were appointed by the military regime, and 7 of whom were recruited from the drafting committee. Most delegates were chosen by local councils (elected in December 1976) and were apportioned by both state and population distribution. The assembly convened in October of 1977 and reviewed the draft for 9 months. The proposals were debated widely in the press and at special conferences, although many of the deliberations were conducted behind closed doors. Debate surrounding provisions for Sharia law in the federal system were particularly contentious, leading some members of the Assembly to (temporarily) walk out. Many amendments were made (particularly regarding the number and composition of local governments) but the basic structure agreed on by the CDC was left in place. The amended draft was then forwarded to the military council where further amendments were made prior to its promulgation by decree on September 21, 1978.
Throughout the process, the ruling military council retained power to veto or amend the constitution, and exercising this prerogative they made another substantive amendment to the constitution in September of 1979. On July 7, 1979 the first elections for a 95-member senate were held. Pre-election tensions ran high but the election-day atmosphere was reportedly calm. Although there was ample time for public comment and considerable media coverage, the lengthy and complicated text was not fully translated into languages other than English, and was not readily accessible to large segments of the population. Observers later protested that its purpose was first and foremost to protect the interests of the elite. Within four years there was considerable political disaffection with the new regime, and on December 31, 1983, military leaders again overthrew the civilian administration.