‘Entrenched clauses’ render Nigeria’s 1999 constitution inadmissible.

The Secretary of State for the colonies (Mr Ian MacLeod) when moving the Second Reading of the Nigeria Independence Bill, on 15 July 1960, in the British House of Commons, said:
‘On fundamental matters, however – I am sure that Nigeria is right again in this - there will be a rather more elaborate procedure for what are called the entrenched clauses. For these clauses, there will be a two-thirds majority required of all members of both Houses of the Federal Parliament and the concurrence, although by bare majority in this case, of both Houses of at least two of the regions. Thus, although change can take place, there is and there will be a considerable degree of firmness and stability and the foundations of which the independence of Nigeria is built.’
 
The parties to independence inserted the aforesaid ‘entrenching clauses’ to exactly specify what was required to make changes to the regional arrangement within Nigeria. There was a requirement for each region to consent. The parties made crystal clear, the reasons for entrenchment, the manner of entrenchment adopted as well as the area of the law entrenched. Not only were the ‘entrenched clauses’ legal instruments, but they were also ‘political’ by reason of the extraordinary diversity ‘in race, religion and in social and economic development’. The people of Nigeria at independence chose to live in three separate self-governing regions. Indeed, to create the Midwest Region in 1964, the people of Nigeria acted strictly in accordance with the ‘entrenched clauses’ that they had inserted into their constitution.
 
An ‘entrenched clause’ is explicitly protected by the constitution. It has a special status. It is immune from change by legislation or other means. It is a constitutional tool that renders legal change almost impossible. It can only be changed by a constitutional amendment. Nigeria’s 1999 is not a constitutional amendment. It is not able to override the ‘entrenched clauses’ contained in the 1960 constitution. Nigeria’s 1999 constitution was imposed by military decree. It has never been ratified by the citizens. It has continued to be operated only because the military left power in the hands of a political class that will not relinquish it. Nigeria’s 1999 constitution is illegal because it contravened the ‘entrenched clauses’ that the parties inserted into the independence constitution, which the parties intended to bind future generations.