THE 1979 PRESIDENTIAL CONSTITUTION

CONTENT

1. Background to the Constitution
2. The Main Features of the 1979 Presidential Constitution
3. Merits of the 1979 Presidential Constitution
4. Demerits of the 1979 Presidential Constitution
5. The Differences between the 1963 and the 1979 Constitutions

Background to the 1979 Presidential Constitution

There were a lot of crises in the operation of the Republican constitution of 1963. These crises were mainly political e.g.; the Federal Elections Crises of 1964; the Western Elections Crises of 1965; the general tensed political atmosphere and thuggery/rigging etc. all those contributed to the first coup d’ etat which dethroned the democratic government of the First Republic on January 15, 1966. The military was in power for the next thirteen years until 1979 when the Lt. General Olusegun Obasanjo’s military regime established a Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) in September, 1975. The committee consisted of 49 members headed by Chief Rotimi Williams as Chairman. Later in 1976, a constituent assembly was established with 190 members indirectly elected by local government units (forming the Electoral College) while 40 members were appointed by the federal military government.