Returning Sovereignty to the People
A Case for a Right to Resist in Nigeria
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Abstract
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recognizes sovereignty as belonging to the people of Nigeria, and it is the people who decide, through elections, who will govern them under a social contract arrangement of donated powers from the governed to the government. Where government subverts that trust by engaging in acts that are unconstitutional, the very basis for the donation is annulled and the original owners of the power can legitimately and legally resist that government. However, Nigeria’s constitutional journey since 1999 charts a path of serial departure from the ethos of constitutionalism. Yet the guiding instrument- the constitution- lacks a constitutional window for the people to resist constitutionalism. Utilising doctrinal legal research methodology, the paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on democratic backsliding in Nigeria by dissecting the intrinsic fabric of constitutionalism as one being rooted in the people. It theorises the concept of the Right to Resist as a self-enforcing mechanism with the real potential of stabilising democratisation and constitutionalism in Nigeria as well as serving as an insurance policy against government overreach, by intentionally elevating the rights of the people – the governed, over and above the rights donated by the people to the government. The paper mirrors the foundational provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which uniquely situates the Right to Resist within the African legal jurisprudence, and recommends that pathway as a veritable one for Nigeria’s legal jurisprudence, constitutional order and governance framework for justiciability and efficacy.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Terhemen Andzenge (Author)
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