Can Kofi be President of Nigeria?
In this article, Kofi Apori interestingly, uses two fictitious characters, "Kofi", a Nigerian citizen by birth, and "Koffi", a Nigerian citizen by naturalisation, to determine who is qualified to run for the office of President of Nigeria and the National
Kofi's father is Ghanaian and his mother is Nigerian from Edo State. Constitutionally speaking, Kofi is Nigerian and Ghanaian at the same time, no matter where he was born and he even holds citizenship by birth of both countries. It may seem strange, but it is clearly spelt out in Section 25 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) (the Constitution). Section 25(b) of the Constitution provides that any individual born in Nigeria either of whose parents or grandparents is Nigerian, is a citizen by birth. Also by virtue of Section 25(c) of the Constitution, anyone born outside Nigeria with a Nigerian parent is a Nigerian by birth. So place of birth is not important in determining who a citizen by birth is; rather, the factor considered is the parentage of the individual. It therefore, means that Kofi can be President of Nigeria, since he is a citizen by birth, or can he?
Koffi's father is from Benin Republic and his mother is Ivorien. Koffi was born in Porto-Novo, Benin Republic, he has lived in Nigeria for 18 years and he is 35 years old. He has satisfied the requirements of being accepted by the Efik community in Odukpani, a town in Cross River State, and has successfully acquired Nigerian citizenship by Naturalisation. The Constitution allows individuals like Koffi to gain citizenship by two ways (Registration and Naturalisation). However, Koffi can only naturalise because he is not a woman and he does not have a Nigerian grandparent. Simply put, individuals who want to acquire citizenship by the other mode i.e. by registration, have to be either women married to Nigerian men or people born outside Nigeria with a Nigerian grandparent. The question that remains is can Koffi be President of Nigeria?
Requirements to Qualify for President of Nigeria
The first requirement to be qualified to be President of Nigeria and for some elective positions, is that the candidate must be a citizen by birth. This therefore, qualifies 'Kofi' to run for Presidency and disqualifies "Koffi". However, there is a section of the Constitution, which appears to provide that dual citizens are exempt from becoming Nigerian Presidents. Section 137 paragraph (a) of the Constitution provides that subject to the provision of section 28 of this Constitution, he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a country other than Nigeria or, except in such a case as may be prescribed by the National Assembly, he has made a declaration of allegiance to such other country. It should be noted that for a dual citizen to be disqualified, he/she must have voluntarily acquired citizenship of another country.
Kofi was born that way; he was born without being given a chance to choose his parents. He therefore, cannot be said to have voluntarily acquired Ghanaian citizenship. The section goes on to make the disqualification of a dual citizen subject to Section 28 of the Constitution. Section 28(1) talks about individuals who acquire Nigerian citizenship (by means other than birth) and go on to acquire or retain citizenship of another country (acquired other than by birth), such individuals shall forfeit Nigerian citizenship, or shall renounce Nigerian citizenship.
So even if Kofi had voluntarily acquired citizenship of another country (as in the case of Ben Bruce) and acquisition of such citizenship did not require him to renounce Nigerian citizenship, he is still qualified to be President. In simple terms, Section 28 is saying that individuals who are disqualified from holding dual citizenship in Nigeria, are those who have citizenship of another country which was obtained by either naturalisation or registration and then seek to acquire a form of Nigerian citizenship (and that form is by registration or naturalisation) and vice versa. That individual has to renounce the citizenship which he held prior to the application for Nigerian citizenship, (if he is not a citizen by birth) or lose his Nigerian citizenship when he wants to obtain citizenship of another country. In other words, only citizens by birth can acquire citizenship of another country and they are not required to renounce their Nigerian citizenship, except that other country requires such renunciation. For example, the Singaporean Constitution does not allow for dual citizenship. It requires that individu- als who intend to become citizens by registration, renounce any other citizenship which they hold, prior to their application for Singaporean citizenship. If Kofi decides to renounce his Nigerian citizenship, he no longer qualifies as a citizen by birth or a Nigerian citizen at all.
Therefore, section 137 of the Constitution seems redundant, because, citizens who acquired citizenship by naturalisation or registration (which it refers to) can never be President as the first requirement for candidates for Presidency as contained in Section 131 of the Constitution, is that such a person must be a citizen by birth.
Politicians, Dual Citizenship and Litigation
The above discussed requirement for Presidency has not been tested by the Nigerian courts. However, there have been issues relating to dual citizenship of candidates for National Assembly. These issues came up in ANTHONY GEORGE IKOLI v BEN MURRAY BRUCE and WILLIE OGBEIDE v ARIGBE OSULA
& ORS 2004 LPELP-CA/B/153/2003. Before discussing the cases, it should be noted that the constitutional requirements discussed above for an aspirant to Presidency, is almost the same as that of an aspirant to the National Assembly. The only difference is that the aspirant only has to be Nigerian citizen; there is no mention of the type of citizen. So I can safely assume that all citizens (like Koffi, Kofi and Eghonghon) can aspire. Or can they?
In both cases, that is Ikoli v Bruce and Ogbeide v Osula & Ors (Supra), the same issue came up; individuals were challenging the elections of the elected candidates (amongst other grounds), on the ground that the Respondents had dual citizenship. In other words, though they were Nigerian by birth, they had sworn allegiance to other countries (United States of America). The Court of Appeal in Ogbeide's case held that what one can make of that section (Section 65 of the Constitution) read with sections 25, 26 and 27 of the Constitution, is that a citizen of this country by birth never loses his citizenship even where he holds dual citizenship of another country and cannot be disqualified from contesting election into the House of Representatives, for reasons only that he holds such dual citizenship.
Unlike Section 137 of the Constitution, which appears to be redundant for Presidential aspirants, Section 66 which contains similar provisions is not. This is so because, since every citizen can aspire to be a member of the National Assembly, it therefore, means that some of them can be caught in the web described in Section 28, which Section 66 like its counterpart 137 refers to. So if Koffi who is Beninois and decides to naturalise as a Nigerian, and thereafter, decides to acquire South African citizenship, he will be ineligible to contest for a seat in the National Assembly.
In conclusion, Kofi can be President, even if he decides to voluntarily acquire citizenship of another country, as far as he doesn’t renounce his Nigerian citizenship. The only problem he might face will be ethnicity and political issues that every Nigerian from a minority, whose father is not Nigerian will face. However, Koffi whose parents are Beninois and who acquired Nigerian citizenship by Naturalisation, can never be President of Nigeria, because he is not a citizen by birth.