A justification for the proscription of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria: lessons of the american experience

Abstract

The Constitution of Nigeria-the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the grundnorm in the legal system of Nigeria. The procedures leading to the adoption of the legal instrument was bereft of the conventional practice of constitution making, this is against the backdrop of the American constitutional making experience- a sovereign State Nigeria owe its political and ethical practices to; and consequently, years after that process, the first to fourth amendments of the statute has created more disaffection than unity because the constitution is not a by-product of national consensus. It is therefore meant to show why the constitution should be jettisoned for another based on national accord. The methodology is doctrinal. The paper concludes that because the practice of a nation’s constitution is autochthonous to its practitioners and that basis is the benchmark for the legitimacy of the legal instrument, Nigeria ought to go back to the drawing board, draw lessons from the American constitutional making experience and re-invent a democratic instrument acceptable to all and sundry to forestall the calls regarding succession, coup d’ et at, terrorism, tribal sentiments, procedural impunity and so on.